Legacy of a Liger
by HeartlessNeoshadow
Summary: A zoid that was once legendary could find no end to its desperate feelings. It had lost everything. It had lost the life it once lived. It had lost those it was close to. However, a new era has begun, and the world has been taking a turn for the worst. This is the legacy of a liger, the story of a zoid who managed to overcome the odds and find peace where nobody else could.
1. Unbearable Guilt

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**Update:** As of 12/6/10, I am now replying to anonymous reviews through my profile page (if an e-mail address is not attached).

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**100 years after New Century Zero...**

**Unbearable Guilt**

I am sure you've felt guilt before. It is something all of us feel at some point in our lives. We do something wrong, and it plagues us. It sticks with us, no matter how much we want it to go away. There's nothing we can do to get rid of it, except for allow time to take its toll. But, as you recollect your memories, I have something I must ask you…have you ever felt it quite like I have? If you say 'yes', then I beg to differ. My life has been wrapped in guilt. Hell, my life _is _guilt. That should probably be my name.

But it's not.

No. I do not have a name that one can relate to in any way. My name is not one to be easily understood. To do so, you'd have to know me, but such is impossible. The sands have covered me up and swept me away, to a land of only light brown and blue. A desert, you could say.

I lay next to the ruins where I was first found all those hundreds of years ago. It brings back a collection of memories, mostly based upon when I was born. These ruins are where I first met the first person who truly became my friend. But he has long since gone, having been dead for longer than I can remember. And it haunts me to know that it was my fault that he died such a horrible death. I wasn't there when he needed me most.

It was about a year after we had saved Planet Zi from a madman who tried to destroy humanity. We were teammates, as well as friends, so losing him when he became ill was made even more painful. He would've lived on if I hadn't been so stubborn! I was informed at the time through overhearing conversations that the cure for his illness was at a place too far away for others to reach in time. All the zoids were currently out of commission, so the only one who could get there and back in time to save him was me. However, I was so caught up in my own personal problems, most of which pertained to stress, that I didn't do anything. I was still going through the motions of being one of the only two of my kind left since everyone else of my race was killed in recent battles. As a result, the cure never made it in time, and he died shortly after. I was naïve and immature, and it costed both him and me.

I guess I should slow down, because you're probably thinking that I sound like something…strange, as if I was a human being with powers. The truth is I'm not. In fact, I'm not human at all. Really, I am what you call an 'organoid.' At least, that is what humans have referred to my kind as. We were specifically designed to enhance the combat abilities of zoids, although right now, I'm more of a zoid than an organoid. I'm sure that doesn't make sense, but it will in a bit.

After my friend, my pilot, died, my feelings only grew worse. The one person who had always been by my side was now gone, so I had to fight to keep myself under control. But while this was happening, my other companions (or friends of my friend) had ideas for me and another organoid. In their minds, they were fearing that one day, Planet Zi would face another threat that could bring an end to humans, and possibly zoids too, and they wanted to make sure that the people of later generations had the means of combating such a threat effectively. That meant something had to be preserved in a way that would allow it to exist for forever. This was where the other organoid and I came in. They wanted us to permanently bond with the zoids our pilots had once controlled, allowing us to live for as long as the zoid existed. The other organoid, who was a former rival of mine, apparently lost his friend as well, so he had the same feelings about this as I did: Permanently bonding with these zoids would bring back our fondest memories of who they were shared with. However, we could not deny that the humans were probably right. Because of this, we fused with the zoids, forcing them to undergo their second evolutions and granting us immortality. I had never come into contact with that other organoid ever since he and I were informed of what we needed to do, until much later. In a sense, I missed him a little bit.

After the evolutions finished, the humans did whatever they could to protect me until they could find a place under their care that no one else could find. They then launched an airborne invisible base for tens of years where I would forever be shielded. It was built specifically to keep me safe, but I was lonely as well. It was only every now and then that someone would come in to say something to me and refine my parts since everyone at that base knew I was a living zoid with a conscience. That same base continued to remain in business and in the skies for another three hundred years. I watched the new and old employees come and go, continuously, letting me know how old I was becoming. As great as it was to have someone to…well…growl back to, I couldn't help but always be reminded of what my life might possibly always be like if nothing happened. For all I know, I could be stuck up here till humanity goes extinct. And as I grew older, I realized that everyone whom I had grown to care for and fought beside had passed away a long time ago now, and that I was now a part of one of those previously mentioned later generations.

Eventually, the base finally went out of business when it was struck by a ground force. The base's invisibility died out and eventually crashed, leaving me to panic as I thought about what could happen to me. I wondered why we were attacked until I overheard someone say that the man who ran the base had an ongoing rivalry with another organization. The base then experienced a rough crash-landing, tossing that threw me me against all of the walls and left massive dents. Fires started to spread throughout the rooms, with everyone screaming as their voices faded out. I was trapped, so I was desperately searching for a way out. However, there wasn't one, so I had to make one myself. I began clawing away at one of the walls and repeatedly threw myself against it again and again before I got the sun from the outside. After not too long, I had an exit that would allow me to escape from the fire. I leapt right out.

The zoid I had become was naturally fast and agile, so getting to safety was easy. But I quickly learned that there was no safe place. Not for me. For whatever reason, whoever shot the base down was after _me_, as I could tell by all the zoids that had me encircled. They left me with no clear way to escape, and to top it off, there were at least ten Guysaks that I would have to try my best to defend against.

"_Well I'll be, if it isn't an Ultimate X zoid_," one of the pilots in one of the Guysaks said. 'Ultimate X' was a completely foreign term to me that I would only come to understand later. "_I know one when I see one. There are only two of them, and only an Ultimate X could've escaped from something like that. Alteil will most definitely be pleased_."

Unprepared for what was to happen next, I took several blows from the Guysaks, and was almost completely destroyed. I would've been dead if a rescue team hadn't come to inspect what happened. I saw them running towards us in the distance, trying to hang on as best as I could until they came. The team consisted of several command wolves whose pilots were arriving to order for the assault on me to stop. The pilots controlling the Guysaks heard the orders and backed away out of fear from me. They knew their place when authorities arrived.

One Command Wolf approached me to inspect my body, probably expecting a pilot to come out of my cockpit. The other Command Wolves were aiming their cannons at the Guysaks, just in case they tried to attack again. When the pilot in the Command Wolf near me noticed I had no pilot, he ordered for a zoid evacuation team to come and pick me up, all the while placing the pilots of the Guysaks under arrest for criminal terrorism.

When I was evacuated from the area, I was given to a dealer due to being deamed a powerless zoid. Hearing the word "powerless" broke me in so many ways since when I had my first pilot, I was always key in assuring our victories. However, I couldn't deny that it was true that I was useless at the time. The dealer accepted my body with no complaints, stating that my parts would be useful for something he was planning. At that point, I wondered if my life was really safe or not. I constantly had the nagging fear that he was going to disassemble me, as he surely didn't know who I was. To him, I was just an item to be used, and then later on thrown away. Then, weeks later, a man dressed like a doctor approached the junk dealer and told him that he wanted to use me for battles. He had a strange passion for zoids, and looked at me before he found out what I was to the other man. He decided that it was wrong for a zoid like me to be wasted.

Both the dealer and I were baffled by the man's words - I was clearly in no shape for combat and I was seemingly beyond repair, but when the man displayed how much money he would pay the dealer if he attempted to fix me, the opportunity to reach richness was something that couldn't be passed up.

In what felt like no time at all, I was back in fighting condition, although nearly getting destroyed like that had weakened me greatly overall. So things obviously weren't all joy. In fact, most things kicked off rather negative. Part of being with this man meant I had to become part of some sort of 'team.' The man himself was overjoyed, and I heard him talking about how he was glad to have a new zoid to compliment his team's zoids, and that they would now win more battles. It was then that I realized this was the time period my first pilot was hoping would come to fruition: a period where zoid-battling was now a sport rather than a means of gaining control of land and proving one's beliefs were superior over another's. But most importantly, this would mean I would have to accept a _new _pilot.

I was _very_ stubborn when allowing a new person into my cockpit. I wasn't willing to let _anyone_ pilot me. This was all because I didn't want to form a deep bond again with another human, because if I lost him or her, I would experience the same grief that overcame me centuries ago. I could tell I was annoying these people, and I was glad. They were giving up hope in ever being able to pilot me, meaning that they would likely open up an opportunity to let me be free. Freedom was what I had wanted after being holed up for so long. But after so much struggling and debates, they eventually had one person show up, a person who seemed just as foreign to this whole atmosphere as I was.

And that one person changed me forever. The instant I saw him was the instant I saw something in a human something that I hadn't seen in ages. That desire, to be something great. Even though he admitted to being a thief who stole zoid parts, I still couldn't help but be drawn to him. I told myself I didn't want to form a deep relation with another human again, but this one had what I had missed when my first true friend was taken away. The spirited personality was there, too, the same personality that had provided me with so many amazing moments when I used to go on huge adventures during the war between the Guylos Empire and the Helic Republic.

Before long, he and I grew to be close companions. Unfortunately, I still received some of the "that zoid's not all that" comments from the other humans, but I put up with them. I would show them sooner or later. I then finally decided to take part in these zoid battles, although it was obvious that this new pilot wasn't as talented as my previous one. To be frank, however, I wasn't quite what I used to be either, since I had gone so many years without battling. Heck, even a Blade Liger was able to take me on! But things reached their high point when I was confronted by a zoid known as the 'Berzerk Fuhrer.'

Despite having been knocked out during a few previous battles and still having a blast fighting while regaining all of my past skills, I had forgotten my true purpose of still being around until I encountered this particular zoid. This zoid had an amount of power that probably could've single-handedly taken down the Deathsaurer. However, its strength didn't strike me as much as its aura did. The aura was one that I had been around before, but I couldn't exactly recall it. I thought the zoid was sensing a familiar aura within me as well, which is probably why it wanted to fight me instead of go for the finish line for the tournament we were participating in. It wasn't until after my victory over that zoid that I also heard it being referred to as an Ultimate X.

That's when I started piecing things together. There were only two Ultimate Xs, whatever an Ultimate X actually was, and I was one of them. The Berzerk Fuhrer was the other. Then I analyzed what made us different from other zoids, which was the fact that we were clearly able to make our own decisions. During the war, the only zoids that could make decisions were zoids that had organoids bonded to them. When I added all that up, I realized that the foe I had knocked out was a former rival from the past, the other organoid who had been assigned the same objective as me.

I kept thinking about why I was here and started to fight a bit easier during our battles, because I wanted to be ready for any major threat, and this clearly didn't satisfy my pilot. Then I figured the Backdraft Group, whom our team had defeated during the tournament and ended up putting under arrest, was that major threat, even though they used my "ally" as their main weapon. Because of this, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He took on this task because he wanted to help the world when it needed him, but he unintentionally did the opposite. I could only hope that he was still well after that battle, and was somewhere in the world where he would be able to come to aid when the world called for him.

So the years passed by swiftly, with the team eventually separating and going their own ways. I stuck with my second companion and took him to wherever we wanted to go. We took part in some one-on-one battles, emerging unscathed and victorious from each and every single one. But like all other pilots do, he eventually met his time, the time where a pilot decides he has become too old to continue participating in zoid battles. At the same time, his health started to deteriorate, and I told myself that this time I wasn't going to fail. I listened to whatever he said and did my best to provide him with whatever he needed.

Then a particular night came. One night, he told me to stay outside on alert while the doctors watched after him. When the sky started to become dark, I noticed a strange mist hovering through the air nearby. I feared it was something dangerous, so I approached the mist to inspect what was going on. I had moved about two thousand yards away from the building housing my pilot. Something about it was strange, unlike anything else I had ever sensed. It was mystical, and alluring. Then, once I had came to my senses, I realized this mist was probably something too good to be true. It was false, as I was able to tell after having been manipulated many times before.

It was a trap to lure me, the hospital's only defense, away. And when I realized this, it was too late.

I could hear squawks in the air. I roared in return, hoping to scare off whatever was in the distant skies. I thought I had succeeded until I saw the zoids heading towards the building. As soon as I saw this, I sprinted back as fast as I could to protect my pilot, only to see that the building was in flames. It was then that it hit me that I had failed again.

The zoids responsible for the bombing quickly disappeared from the scene. I immediately looked through the windows in panic. I wasn't about to lose another person so close to me. I couldn't afford to let him die! I clawed and bit off fragments of the structure, but to no avail. My second pilot, just like my first, was lost, and it was my fault. Both times I hadn't done what I should've done, and was not where I needed to be. I really felt like I betrayed them both.

After this, being unable to take anymore, I sent myself into exile, sooner or later ending up where I am now in this part of the desert. I thought it would be fitting to stop at the place where I was first found once I saw it, so here I am. My parts have mostly given out, being four hundred and four years old. Sand has gotten itselft wedged in between my weapons and joints, making it hard as hell to even move. All I can do now is just lay here, waiting…waiting for something to happen to me, or waiting for someone or something to come and replace my old parts with new ones. Waiting for my destiny to arrive, even as I lay around helplessly. Somehow, things would happen and workout. Just…somehow.

To be honest, though, all of this waiting I'm describing has been getting to me. It's really starting to make me miss my old names that I'm sure have now come to mean so much: 'Liger Zero,' or 'Zeke.'


	2. The New Generation

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**Update:** As of 12/6/10, I am now replying to anonymous reviews through my profile page (if an e-mail address is not attached).

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**The Backdraft Arc**

**The New Generation**

**(3rd person POV)**

Planet Zi has made vast changes ever since the Zoid Battle Commission started to receive huge profits. The battles themselves have become a lot rougher and more strategic, with the pilots now being able to request obstacles to be set up prior to the matches. It added a whole new feel and excitement to the now classic sport, gaining much more attention all over Planet Zi. Status reports have suggested that nearly two-thirds of the Zi population is into either watching or participating in Zoid Battling.

But of course, there are those who are against it. The safety of the pilots has garnered mass concern due to the development of more powerful weapons, nearly all of which now have the power to turn battlefields into ashes. To some, the fights have seemingly become a massive danger zone, even for the competitors. The other reason they don't like it is because most of the entertainment news revolves around Zoid Battling, edging out most other TV shows from even being broadcasted. They deemed it unfair, although the media found money's voice to be louder, especially during hard economic times.

However, there were also periods when zoid battles seem to return to their roots. Terrorists have become much more commonplace thanks to the development of stealth technology, and the Backdraft Group has found ways to once again rise to power, with a man and zoid pilot known as Vega Obscura who paved the way. He didn't intend for the reborn organization to spark trouble once again in Zoid Battling, but those who succeeded him had different ideas, wanting to mold the sport to their own tastes. The Zoid Battle Commission has since made whatever efforts possible to put the Backdraft Group down again, and the two are still going at it to this day.

But that hasn't stopped the landscapes on Planet Zi from developing into works of art. These are the landscapes where people have constructed their shelters, with designs resembling what houses on Earth looked like during the planet's twenty-first century. The air has become much cleaner, with the majority of past illnesses no longer hovering about. This is in large part due to the aftereffects of the battles against the Deathsaurer dying out completely. However, some say those who fought back then are still around, but that's currently just a myth.

In addition, the upper part of Zi's northern hemisphere is where the planet's capital is: Remma City. It is where members of the Zoid Battle Commission come together to discuss current zoid battles rules and records, and if any changes are to be made to the competitions. It is also where the heads of several businesses reside. The city is, in a sense, the source of whatever happens on the planet. However, besides businessmen, it is also where the richest families have decided to live due to the great design, the healthy streets, and the supermarkets that are always in supply. The city is perhaps the best place to live in on Zi.

Well, for the most part it is. Other times, things can become unruly…

"What? What do you mean I can't go through?!" complained a civilian. There was an enormous crowd gathering around the building in which the planet's president resided in. The media had been promised a chance to interview him about the progress the Zoid Battle Commission has made in putting the Backdraft Group out of business, so they were desperate to waltz just right in.

"I am sorry, but this area is currently off-limits," a security guard shouted. All he got as a response was even louder yells of protests from the crowd. The guard shook his head, not knowing how to single-handedly deal with the excited media. Then more security guards poured out of the president's building, with some of them toting pistols to scare the crowd. Little success was met, however, so some of the guards pointed their weapons in the air and fired, ordering everybody to back off.

Meanwhile, the stressed guard turned around to head back inside the building. He ran back in to get away from the noise, hating every bit of it as he entered the structure. Once inside, he took off his hat and relaxed, revealing his flat dark blonde hair. The shadow his hat cast also disappeared, allowing his white-skinned twenty-five year old face to become visible. He wanted to let the president know about the situation outside, and was about to head his way, but one of his colleagues stopped him before he could keep going.

"Are people knocking you around again, Zanzer?" the other guard joked. Zanzer chuckled a little, stopping in his place to talk with the other guard.

"They always do," snorted Zanzer. "Seems as if even my days off are packed full of those Backdraft sons-of-a-bitches driving people crazy."

"Couldn't agree more," said the guard as he walked closer to Zanzer. "They drive them just as crazy as these people drive us." He looked out the doors to see Remma's people holding up signs and waving their hands. Zanzer looked out there too as a question popped in his head.

"So why exactly is the president canceling the interviews?" Zanzer queried.

"'Don't exactly know. All he told us was there was a secret project he had to move on to instead that was more important than giving the people the answer they want."

"The answer they want?" Even Zanzer was becoming curious regarding whatever the president had to say.

"He said we're getting close to shutting down the Backdraft Group for good. He also said he had an idea in mind that would punish them even harder than they were a hundred or so years ago."

"Well, I certainly hope so. Maybe then I'd actually know what sleep is," Zanzer moaned. He turned around to walk towards the elevator that would take him up to the president's office. "By the way, Thomas, didn't your shift already begin? Aren't you supposed to be out there?"

"My boss told me he was going to delay it a few minutes. 'Says I'm also gonna be getting off early as well!" Thomas bragged. Zanzer rolled his eyes, wondering why the other security guards had to work less than him while still getting paid an equal monthly salary. It wasn't fair in any way. Then he realized he had been slacking off a bit on some of his work, and would have to pick up the pace in order for things to be even.

As soon as the door opened, Zanzer gave Thomas a farewell as he walked inside. Thomas returned with a wave of his own and leaned against a wall.

The building itself was slightly taller than the average skyscraper, so it took a few minutes before Zanzer could reach the top floor, where the president's office was located. He greeted other security guards as they passed him by before he stood in front of the office room and knocked. The president told him to come in, so he trudged in quietly. He made an effort to be silent, not wanting to disturb the president while he was finishing up some of his paperwork.

"So, have things been going well out there?" the president asked with a hint of sarcasm. His black combed-back shoulder-length hair contrasted his skin's lighter complexion, but matched the dark shade of his blazer suit. The older man lifted his eyes from the stack of papers on his desk and took off his glasses to get a clear eye-to-eye look at Zanzer.

"Sir, I certainly wish I could say so," the guard replied. "It hasn't been this rough out there ever since that massive riot five years ago." The president laughed a little bit.

"Well, I'm sure there's something that can be done about this issue. I saw the size of this crowd on TV and recently sent out more security guards to help handle this problem. Next time, I'll just have to make sure there's nothing else I may be busy with whenever I make another promise to the media. They can be quick to jump on you if you're not careful." The older man took a sip of his coffee. "But yes, it seems quite clear that no one has told them I cancelled the interviews."

"I myself tried to inform them, but my words apparently didn't register."

"Can't say I'm surprised. In a time like this, answers are all Planet Zi's people will accept. It's tough when I can't currently provide them with such."

"But sir, why didn't you just inform the media a while ago that today you weren't going to be available?"

"It's not that simple," the president grimly responded, lowering his eyes.

"Huh?" He had always known this president as a man that found his work to be easy. The fact that there was something even a bit difficult for this man disturbed Zanzer's mind.

"You see, I cancelled them just recently. What happened was I was about to head downstairs to start the interviews when I received an intelligence report from one of our spy operatives. He was on his mission to see if he could locate any nearby opposition from the Backdraft Group when he took a picture of a very interesting looking object and sent it to us."

The president pulled out the picture he received that was printed out. The picture was taken from about three hundred feet in the air, but what could be seen was a zoid that had some of its parts covered up by sand, lying not too far from some ruins in the middle of a desert. The zoid itself was one of which Zanzer had never seen before. However, looking at it for a few seconds, he noticed it looked similar to something else. Then the security guard thought otherwise when he looked closely at the picture and noticed traces of white paint.

"What…zoid is that supposed to be?" The president seemed to be appalled by Zanzer's question.

"You mean to tell me that this zoid doesn't look familiar to anything you've seen before?"

"It looks a bit like some kind of Liger zoid. I've seen some of its features on Blade Ligers in the past. Beyond that, no Sir, I've never seen this zoid." The older man was shocked.

"What the hell do these schools teach kids these days?" the president complained. "It's called the 'Liger Zero,' the next in the Liger series after the Blade Liger, which is why it looks roughly familiar."

"The Liger Zero…" Zanzer pondered. "That does ring a bell, actually…"

"Then it's good to know those teachers at least teach something." The president narrowed his eyes. "Anyway, the reason this caught my attention was because of its background. The background I'm talking about is that of the zoid that was used to put the Backdraft Group out of business a hundred years ago." Zanzer's eyes went wide.

"Wait a second, _that _old wreck was what the past generation used?" Zanzer was in disbelief.

"The zoid is currently older than a century, so nothing more can be expected of its appearance besides what you see. But our spy said he was able to detect electrical signals emanating from it, meaning that it may possibly still be functioning, despite having been out there in the sand for so long."

Many things were currently running through Zanzer's mind. For one, he never actually knew what this zoid was until now, so hearing that a zoid with that kind of history was out there and possibly still functional was a bit much for him to take in. But the president had never lied to him before whenever he spoke with him, so he saw no reason why he would now. He still got curious, though…

"Mr. President, as great as it is to hear about this, exactly why are you telling me all of this?" The president laid back in his chair and wrapped his arms, remembering something.

"That reminds of one thing I was going to say if we were to have those interviews. What that one thing is is that I am promoting you to head of Global Security." The security guard dropped his jaw. His world just spun.

"Wait…wait…wait…but…but I…S-Sir! Are you serious about this? I've only had this job for a year. I'm still a rookie! I'm not sure if I'd be able to handle the responsibility," said Zanzer.

"Oh, you'll handle it fine. You've proven to me through your past efforts that this position is something you are perfectly capable of handling. Besides, I recently fired the man who previously served as who you are now, due to being such a lazy bastard. All he did was sip tea once he got moved up. Then all he complained about how the rest of us don't work hard enough. Speaking of which, that means I do not want _any _whining from you. Do you understand?" The president said sharply, pointing a finger at Zanzer.

All Zanzer could do was mutter, "Yes…yes Sir."

"Good, good. Now, I'm going to be escorted to our military base closest to that zoid. I'll be arriving there through the use of a Whale King, so I'll need you to clear a path for me to be able to reach it."

"And how am I supposed to do that Mr. President? Guns aren't doing a great job of getting those people to leave."

"Do whatever it takes. As much as I wouldn't normally approve of it, use zoids to get them to move if you must. We have Bio Raptors stored away in a hangar just a quarter mile south from here. Just make sure not to kill anyone on accident – things currently already have potential to get ugly in this city."

Zanzer wanted to protest as he tensed up. He was already being assigned a huge task less than a minute before he was promoted. He doubted his leadership skills as they were still growing, and now they were being counted on to handle a major mission right. Because of this, he had to restrain himself from complaining back, the exact same action in which he was not supposed to act out on, or else he risked a warning. With this, he knew arguing with the president would be futile, and doing so would only make his bad day worse.

The new head of Global Security nodded to Planet Zi's president before he stood up to make his way to the hangar. He got a nod back, and started to curse while he hoped he would be able to do things right.

* * *

"Hey, Mom! Dad! What's going on out there?" called a curious voice. A middle-aged teenager with light skin and shoulder-length silver hair was resting in a chair, looking through a window. He could see the massive crowd of people outside swarming around the president's building, more formally known as the Zi Tower. He had seen crowds like this before on TV, but never in person, so seeing such a mass like the one in front of him with his own eyes was a completely different experience for the teenager, Ven Night.

"'Must be the interviews President Malcolm promised," came his dad's voice from the kitchen. His mom jumped in as well.

"There's been a rumor the Backdraft Group is going to strike this city, Honey. What are we going to do if that happens?" The question was directed toward Ven's dad. It was a question a lot of the people outside had as well.

"That won't happen. They're not dumb enough to approach this area again. The last time they did so, the city's defense mechanisms easily took care of them."

"Dad, didn't you tell us there's a first for everything?"

"Only when it's logical, Son." His father was doing whatever he could to cheer the family up. The fact that the Backdraft Group did once try to attack Remma left the majority of the city's population anxious. Sure, they didn't succeed, but they didn't know what could happen later on, especially with the news that the zoid-battle intercepting organization had recently had one of their deadliest commanders moved up a rank.

"Sure seems pretty logical for them to strike now," mentioned Ven's mother. "As a global traveler, I know that there's been news spreading about this city's recent uproars. 'Don't know why the Backdraft Group wouldn't know, too. And we're in a perfect state for them to take advantage of us."

"Regardless, it's not too much to worry about. We've been improving our defenses at the same time. There's nothing to fear."

"There you go again with your bravery act…" Ven's mom sighed.

Largely, the economic state has been rough for everyone living in the city. The Backdraft Group managed to inflict severe property damage when they launched their last surprise attack, of which led to a slight depression among some citizens. This mentality corrupted most of the people currently out on the streets forming the crowd. They wanted to know what could and would be done with the state of their lives. And Ven wanted an answer, too.

"Hey Dad, mind if I go out there, too?"

"What for, Ven?" wondered his father as he stepped into the living room. He looked both similar and different from Ven. The father had the same face, but much shorter hair that wasn't in strands, reaching down to only his ear level. His mother also stepped in, drying off a dish with a towel. Her hair reached down to her humerus, with wrinkles a bit more clear on her face than her husband's. All three of them wore modern day clothing: Ven wore blue denim jeans and a white T-shirt. His father also wore blue denims, but accompanied them with a blue business shirt instead. His mother had on beige shorts on and a black tank-top, as she was about to go for a run outside.

"I'm just curious as to what the president will say, and whether it will affect us moving or cause more problems around here." His father folded his arms and thought for a moment. While he was proud of his son for growing up and willing to pay more attention to the politics around him, he worried about the dangers that could erupt in a massive gathering. But after thinking for a minute, and forcing Ven to sit there and wait for a response, he decided it would be fine for his son to go out there. He gave Ven the 'okay.'

"Thanks, Dad," Ven exclaimed with joy, quickly putting on his sneakers and making his way out of the door.

"Just remember, Ven, if things get out of hand, you come straight back here," ordered his mom. Ven rolled his eyes, as this was something his mom always told him whenever he went out to go somewhere without them.

"Mom, I'm sixteen years old. Don't worry, I can handle myself," Ven retorted as he exited the house and closed the front door. His dad was laughing to himself.

"'I can handle myself' is what he always says," the man noted.

"If anything, our son's taking after you." Ven's mom was laughing, too. All his father could do was nod in agreement with a smile on his face.

* * *

The adolescent sprinted down the streets towards the source of all the commotion. He was able to make it there quickly without breaking a sweat, and he grew excited to see what the president would say. All the civilians were yelling and screaming out loud, demanding for the president to come out. The old man was running late, and everyone was becoming impatient. However, as they waited longer, they were surprised to be greeted by roars instead of a man.

They all searched for the source of the noises, not being able to detect which direction they were coming from. It turned out the roars were coming from all directions, with the sources making themselves visible. Bio Raptors had appeared from behind the skyscrapers, bellowing and moving their tails about. Piloting the zoids were security guards, led by none other than Zanzer.

Zanzer spoke loudly through an intercom, "The president has confirmed that all interviews today are to be cancelled. I repeat, the president has confirmed that all interviews today are to be cancelled. This area will now be completely off-limits for the next twenty-four hours. I apologize for any inconvenience. Now we may ask that you all please make way. A Whale King will be landing nearby shortly, and the president will be on his way."

All Zanzer's words were met with was screams and yells, decrying the president for not having told the civilians earlier about the cancellations. This spurred Zanzer into making small and slow steps with his zoid towards the demanding civilians, forcing the people to slowly back off. The other pilots in the Bio Raptors did the same, effectively herding the crowd away from the Zi Tower. A path was soon successfully cleared for the president to walk towards the Whale King landing in a landing zone to the north. Unlike the rest of the people, Ven stood his ground, still eager to see what was going on. Zanzer noticed this when everybody else had been retreating.

"Kid, we are ordering you to leave. This area is now restricted," Zanzer announced. Ven was mentally lost and had gotten too caught up in watching the whale king take off. He forgot about the Bio Raptors' presence.

"Huh? Oh, ummm…" stuttered Ven as he snapped out of it. "Sorry!" The teenager then took off to behind the nearest buildings, where neither his parents nor the pilots in the Bio Raptors would be able to find him. He wasn't about to leave the place without getting an understanding of what was going on. He knew curiosity killed a cat, but he doubted it could kill a human.

"Kids these days…" muttered Thomas as he sat in his zoid's cockpit. "They gotta be nosy, don't they?"

"You and I were no different ten years ago," Zanzer replied. "I kind of miss those days, to be honest."

"Awwww, getting soft now?" Thomas teased. The lead security guard was quick to react.

"What? Who said I was getting soft?"

"You. 'I kind of miss' is a phrase for softies, Mr. Oh-high-and-mighty-Zanzer."

"Don't think that I'm happy about this promotion! It's one of the last things I ever wanted right now," Zanzer revolted. Like he had predicted his bad day was getting worse, and here he was hearing things that added to it. He hated that they were coming from someone he worked with.

"Yeah, I'm sure. You've told me before that you always wanted bragging rights, so you can't convince me you ain't happy!"

"Gargh! Whatever," the head of global security spat. "Anyway, we need to get to the landing zone to make sure no crazy people dish out something at the whale king." Zanzer turned his Bio Raptor around and took off towards the ground below the massive hovering whale zoid.

"Aye-aye, 'King' Zanzer," Thomas snuck in slyly as he followed Zanzer. The rest of the Bio Raptors trailed him as well, leaving massive footprints in the streets. Ven stayed behind the buildings, stealthily following the zoids amidst the structures. He knew his parents would be extremely upset with him if they found out he had gone on to spy on the government's actions, but the teenager was confident whatever he would see would make this worthwhile. He'd also be able to make an excusable explanation regarding what he saw. He was skilled liar who always got his way.

So the teenager made his way through several alleyways and crossed many streets, taking cover to keep his figure undetectable. Occasionally, he trekked through a junkyard here and there, trying to keep his coughing, due to the overpowering stench, low so that he wouldn't be caught. He also had to race into and out of some buildings just to make sure he wouldn't lose sight of the Bio Raptors. He collided with several people and made several messes while on his way, receiving complaints from nearly every set of his eyes that crossed him. He ignored them as they stared him down, knowing that slowing down would end up costing him a rare opportunity.

In the not too far distance, he could see Bio Raptors, Bio Kentros, and Bio Triceras circled around an area of land with a Whale King high up in the air, still choosing which direction it was going to head in. The zoids surrounding the landing zone were actively looking around, searching for any intruders who could possibly cause danger.

Ven had his hands on his knees, panting profusely. He wasn't the most athletic among those his age, but he could keep up a good pace whenever he needed to. Unfortunately, he'd have to gather himself up again, as he heard voices coming from behind him.

"Great, we're late to the show," complained Thomas, stopping his zoid just a couple buildings behind Ven. He opened the Bio Raptor's cockpit and stood up, looking towards the whale king. His straight blue hair shone under the light alongside his red painted facial markings, scaring the teenager away and inkling him to take cover behind a parked truck. He was surprised that the zoids' pilots hadn't seen him. "I was hoping for a free front-row seat!"

"Relax," Zanzer suggested, opening his cockpit and standing up to his full-height. "We can still enjoy a good view from here." Some of the windforce propelling from the whale king's jets pushed against their faces, blowing back their blue and blonde hair. The roars of the zoids ahead also sounded off as the president's escort made its departure.

When the Whale King faded from visibility, Zanzer and Thomas closed their Bio Raptors' hatches again. To make sure no one else breached the area, Zanzer activated his heat detector. It was a device installed in all the security zoids, designed to detect any intruders nearby by telling the pilot the temperatures of all objects within a two hundred yard radius. If the temperature was between eighty-five to one hundred and ten degrees, the object was likely a trespasser. Almost instantly, the device picked up something that was ninety-seven degrees.

"Hold on, Thomas," he ordered as the other guard was about to turn his Bio Raptor around. "Looks like we have a fish-out-of-water somewhere around here." Ven heard those words and instantly felt a wave of anxiety rush over him. There was no where else for him to run without being spotted. Plus, he knew having them see him would mean serving prison time.

"Good. T'was gettin' a bit boring around here."

"According to the heat detector, he's somewhere amidst these buildings, close to our left. We'll have to get out of these zoids if we want to find whoever it is." Thomas complied with Zanzer and dropped out of his zoid's cockpit, leaving it open for him to quickly get back inside later. Zanzer gave the order for the other zoids to stay in position - he knew this wouldn't take long.

As Thomas and Zanzer came closer and closer, Ven was desperately trying to find a place to hide. The only place that would allow him to stay hidden was if he hid inside the truck, but he'd have to reveal himself to get in there. In the teenager's mind, he was doomed. Then he realized he could hide _under_ the truck.

Ven, as fast as he could, crawled beneath the vehicle. He did his best to not make any sounds whatsoever. Any noise he made would be sure to give away his location to the two guards. But they weren't ones to be fooled easily.

"He's no where around here," said Thomas while patrolling around the truck. "I know being 'up there' means you see things others don't, but you need to gimme a break."

"Would you please just lay off the remarks?" demanded the irritated Zanzer. "Heat detectors have a long history of catching trespassers. There's no reason for them to screw around with me now."

"They're just works of machinery. Anything like that can experience a glitch and churn out false info." Zanzer smirked.

"The reason why you get glitches is because you give everything and everyone around you a hard time."

"Oh really- HEY! WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!"

"It means that you are-"

Zanzer cut himself off as he thought of one last place to check. He felt like slapping himself for not thinking about checking the place on his mind earlier. He put his index finger in front of his mouth to signal for Thomas to remain quiet. The head of global security then slowly crept towards the truck right by him while lowering himself. Thomas noticed what Zanzer was thinking and did the same. Ven could see what they were doing and knew it was all over for him. Both Zanzer and Thomas were about to discover him.

With one quick motion, Zanzer had Ven in his sights, as well as Thomas.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't that same kid we told to go back," Thomas sneered. "I don't recall us ever being like this, Zanzer." Zanzer paid no attention to his colleague as he stared at Ven. The adolescent gulped, not sure of what was going to happen next.

"Kid, get out from under there," Zanzer commanded. Ven remained still and hesitant. "That's an order!" Then those loud words startled him before he crawled out from underneath the truck. As soon as he tried to get up, Zanzer grabbed him and forced him up against the truck's front end.

"Just what were you trying to pull, Kid?" came Zanzer's booming voice for a second time. Ven was struggling to break free and to get in a good breath – he was still experiencing the shock of this man's physical force.

"I…I just…wanted to see what was…going on…" Ven replied weakly.

"That's not enough to get you out of trouble," Thomas jumped in, taking out his bat. Ven could hear Thomas tapping it against the palm of his other hand.

"Please! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to cause any disturbance!" Ven whined.

"That doesn't matter now," said Zanzer, "because regardless, you're going to have to answer to the court." On Planet Zi, anyone caught trespassing into off-limits areas will have to attend trial, as it was now considered a criminal offense due to recent history of trespassers damaging government property.

* * *

The Whale King flew high above the clouds with the sun shining on its dark brown paint. Over the years, Whale Kings have seen their share of improvements like how other zoids have. The armor itself has been strengthened greatly, now being able to stand up to multiple blasts from a charged particle cannon. Additional weapons have been mounted on it as well, including missile launchers on each of the fins and upgraded editions of the electron cannon and the electron mass driver. Combined, all of these make the Whale King the ultimate escort method for the president.

"So how far are we from our destination?" the old man asked. It had been two hours since the whale king had taken towards the skies. He knew the desert where the Liger Zero lay was several thousand miles away, but he figured they would've arrived there by now, given the speed at which Whale Kings travel.

"We are still six hundred miles away from the base, Sir," one of the pilots responded. "We should be landing there in about thirty minutes."

"Good. Standing and sitting around in this giant mechanical sea animal gets demanding of me." He took a seat in a chair. "What are the reports from the base regarding the zoid?"

"The results are still the same."

"Then at least we have hope."

However, there was a force intending to destroy their confidence.

The pilots' eyes grew wide as the massive flying zoid detected opposition in the air directly in front of them. The force itself became visible as the whale king continued moving forward. The president could see the armada of Raynoses and Storm Sworders approaching, with each of the zoids' black paint contrasting with the bright sky. Their colors signified that they belonged to the Backdraft Group, the president's sworn enemy.

"Sir, Backdraft opposition is up ahead and preparing to surround us!" cried another pilot.

"Then launch a missile barrage at them!" ordered the president. Almost as soon as the order was given, the missile pods were loading and readying to take aim. Each of missiles had a lock-on system built in, allowing them to home in on their targets. They also had enough power to force a zoid's command system to freeze with one shot if they did not blow it up by striking its core. "We must make it to the base no matter what!"

Unfortunately for him, the approaching armada was one step ahead. As the missiles were launched, the strike force split up into several different directions. The majority of the Raynoses and Storm Sworders were able to pull evasive maneuvers that threw off the missiles off-target, while others weren't so lucky. Bits of fire began to cloud the skies, and when the missile barrage was over, the armada regrouped into their original formation. It was their turn to strike.

The Backdraft zoids picked up speed, to the point to where the whale king's cannons missed their all of their targets. The Raynoses launched a missile barrage of their own, leaving scratches and indentations on the Whale King's armor. The Storm Sworders weaved their way through the cannonfire, managing to close in and cut further away into the whale king's armor with their wing blades. While it would take a lot more to take down the huge zoid, a constant attack would bring it down after enough damage has been sustained. But despite this and knowing this, the president had no intention of giving up.

In the meantime, an image of a Backdraft pilot appeared in the Whale King's bridge on the front monitor, donning a black suit and helmet that completely covered his face…

"Heh, you men were foolish if you thought you could perform an operation without us knowing," the Backdraft pilot spoke. It was a voice the president instantly recognized, one that stained him more than anything else.

"Ragnarok," boomed the president. "I'd know your voice anywhere!"

"Hey, at least you remember me, Malcolm," Ragnarok sneered. "It's been…what, ten years since we last met?"

"Don't try to flatter yourself, you vile monster. As if I'd forget what you've done!"

"Oh, stop looking at the past. We all change over time, and I know I have for the better."

"An animal like you could only dream of changing for the better!" The old man yelled, slamming his hands.

"Come on now, that actually hurts…" said Ragnarok in a babyish tone, "…calling your friend an animal."

"Well what kind of 'friend' are you if you're not animal, especially after what you've done?" Malcolm was tense, growling and clutching his fists. He had known Ragnarok back when they served in Remma's military ten years ago. They quickly became great buddies when they first met, always covering each others' backs when out on missions. But one day, while they were out in their zoids together,Ragnarok backstabbed Malcolm and opened fire on him, revealing that he had been working with the Backdraft Group the entire time. He was only with him to gather information about how the Zoid Battle Commission operated, and stole copies of the data before he disappeared for years, until now.

"Me? I'm a friend who knows the truth. Face it, no attempt you and your pathetic Commission make will put down our organization. Ever since our rise, you've only been able to defend yourselves against us. It's time to wake up."

"Us? We need to wake up? I know for a fact that Zi prospered when the Backdraft Group was out of commission. Why people like you don't understand that is beyond me, but I'll see to it that you're all put in your places," Malcolm declared, slamming his fists again and startling his pilots with his commanding voice. Even Ragnarok was caught off guard. "Besides, a two-timing bastard like you would have no idea what I have gone through ever since your act of treachery. I'll see to it that you in particular remain in prison for your crimes!"

"Too bad, since you're in no position to be making claims." All Malcolm could do was growl under his breath as the image disappeared. The Whale King's pilots were awaiting their orders.

"Tell all the other zoid pilots on board to get ready for takeoff in the Pterases and Redlers. And tell the base to begin the excavation of the zoid without my inspection. We may go down, but not without a fight!"

"Yes sir," cheered all the pilots on the bridge in unison. The base confirmed they received the order, and before long, the zoids within the Whale King's hangar were soaring out into the skies by the hundreds, charging and firing at the Raynoses and Storm Sworders. An intense battle had unfolded in Planet Zi's sky, one that looked to be as intense as they could get.

* * *

Ven was lying in a prison cell, having lost in court. The judge had sentenced him to five years in prison for invasion of currently private property. It was an automatic sentence given to anyone who trespassed, with it being meant to display how serious they were about this particular law. After the session was over, both of his parents gave him a mouthful since they were extremely upset that their son disobeyed them and kept them worried sick. Ven expected their words, so he didn't pay them much attention or really concern himself. If there was anything for him to feel good about, it was the fact that the judge had ordered his cell to be one in a military base. The judge feared that if the teenager was able to get past several security zoids, then he must have some kind of equipment that could make him potentially deadly. While that was not true, Ven didn't argue as he thought it was cool to be in a building that held a variety of high-tech weapons, zoids in particular. The adolescent had always dreamed of piloting a zoid one day ever since he rode in one with his father. His father wouldn't let him handle the controls, however, stating that "A man can only effectively pilot a zoid that was destined for him. You'll know you've found that zoid when it feels destined for you." His father's words confused him, but he put them aside after he gave them a lot of thought. They were too much for him at the moment. They were words that barely meant anything.

The door to the prison cells was kicked open violently. Ven peeked through to see who it was. He couldn't tell who the figure was, but he did notice he was carrying a tray with enough food on it to keep him satisfied for the rest of the day. There was no one else locked up in the room, so he knew he was being treated, and he grew excited because of it.

As the figure came closer, Ven realized it was the guard who had arrested him: Zanzer.

Zanzer put the tray down as he took out a set of keys, searching for the one designated to Ven's cell door.

"You know, Kid, there's one thing I've gotta give you credit for," announced Zanzer, "and that's the fact you managed to get as far past us as you did while we were on duty. Not too many people your age seem to know how to get around this mess of a city."

"Thanks," Ven muttered. The door lock clicked, allowing Zanzer to enter the cell and put the tray on a small table. Ven looked at the tray to see what he was being fed. There was as much food as he was hoping for. There was a medium-sized bowl of soup, as well as two cups of water and a plate of fruits and vegetables. Next to these was a spork and some kind of meat that was cooked rare, to where it couldn't be recognized. He was getting the special treatment since Zanzer found him commendable.

"You should be thankful your sentence wasn't extended. For some reason, the judge has taken a disliking towards teenagers. But if you're anything to go by, I can see why."

"Haven't adults done the same thing before?" Ven asked weakly. He was tired due to only managing five hours of sleep the night before.

"Most adults have the common sense to not try something like that," retorted Zanzer, "especially when they've been told to leave."

"Well what about the ones who did try?"

"They were forced to work in community service programs."

"And yet teenagers like me have to sit here and do nothing?"

"You're the only teenager in-over-your-head enough to get some lopsided idea like you did. And they have to perform fifteen years of community service. Really, you're getting off well."

"Yeah, but how come-"

"Look, take my word, Kid," Zanzer said before sighing, "painting Gustavs red, white, or blue, or cleaning garbage up off the streets is no pastime."

But before their conversation could continue any further, the base's alarm went off.

"THIS IS AN EMERGENCY PROCEDURE! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY PROCEDURE! ALL PILOTS AND SECURITY GUARDS, PLEASE PREPARE FOR TAKE OFF IN THE HANGAR! THE PRESIDENT'S WHALE KING IS UNDER ATTACK! I REPEAT, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY PROCEDURE! I REPEAT, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY PROCEDURE," blasted a voice over the intercom. Zanzer immediately exited the cell and proceeded to lock the its door.

"Wait a second, I thought you were working around here," asked a puzzled Ven.

"I am, which is why I'm heading to the hangar to make sure everything stays under control," was all Zanzer could respond with before bolting through the door he used to enter the room. Ven wasn't able to get another word out before the man disappeared.

_I wish I even _had _a job. Well, not like I'm gonna be getting one now._

Minutes later, Ven could hear the screeches of the Pterases and Redlers as the they blasted off into the air. They were the sounds that he wondered if he would ever hear up close one day, if he ever got to pilot a zoid. But after years of waiting, he began to lose hope.

He casually ate his food, up until he saw something sparkle out of the corner of his eye, at which point, his tray was empty within minutes. There was a barred window in the cell, providing light in the room to keep it from being pitch black. When Ven looked at the object the light shone on, he realized he just may have a chance of piloting a zoid.

Zanzer had dropped the key to unlocking the cell's door. He also left the door to the room ope. The teen wasted no time in grasping for the key since he knew this may be the only chance he'll get to see what he's always wanted to see. Once he grabbed it, he stood up and put his hands through and in between the bars of the cell. He successfully picked open the lock and dashed up to make his escape. He told himself that at this point he would have to be extremely careful of everyone else around him in the base – if he was caught again, his sentence would at least be doubled, if not turned into a lifelong sentence.

As soon as Ven got out, he was greeted by the sound of running footsteps from the employees. When the footsteps became loud enough, Ven swiftly took cover behind a wall, staying out of sight. One of the men was shouting out orders to the others, demanding that they pick up the pace. The silver-haired kid peered around the wall to make sure the coast was clear. The men had gone, so it was safe to keep moving.

The teenager crept his way through the series of corridors and hallways, all the while keeping himself invisible to the people running amuck. He had seen the entrance to the hangar while being taken to his cell, so he knew how to get there. Then it hit him that if he took the obvious route to getting inside of it, he would definitely be spotted. Then he recalled hearing about there being an alternate way to get inside it from a group of pilots that were having a casual conversation. But to get in there he would need some help: A disguise. He was beginning to realize that almost everything around him required multi-layered thinking, and almost instantly, he spotted a zoid pilot's uniform hung in a closet, complete with the helmet.

Ven wasted no time in putting on the clothing. To his luck, all of it fit perfectly. It only took him a minute to put it on without any difficulties. The only problem for him was the changes he was experiencing. For example, getting used to seeing through the helmet was going to take some time since it gave everything a darker tint. Through it, he saw another group of men sprinting towards the hangar and blended in behind them as they were passing by. Ven didn't actually realize how close he was to the hangar until only seconds later when he saw the entrance. The automatic door opened for them, and all the teenager could see was the group in front of him blending in with the other zoid pilots, Redlers, Pterases, zoid parts, and security guards. Seeing everything in the hangar made him stop in his tracks and gasp.

"Hey you," shouted a commander, startling Ven. His most noticeable feature was his long red hair that reached down to his chest. "What do you think you're doing just standing there? Get a move on it and get in one of the zoids!"

"Y-yes Sir!" Ven tried to speak in his most mature tone, though the commander still looked at him strangely. He made his way toward one of the Pterases that already had its cockpit lowered and opened and quickly jumped in and pulled down the safety harness. Once he was comfortable, he pressed the button for closing the cockpit, all the while wondering if this was the zoid he was destined for. But given the moment, he barely gave it any thought and forced the zoid into an upright position and walked it towards the launch track. Ven been participating in Zoids simulators all throughout his life, so he knew how to control a flying-type.

After waiting for the rest of the zoids to take off, it was soon his turn. He waited for his signal from the man on the track as he lowered the zoid into takeoff position. Right when the signal came, Ven started the jets and felt the shaking of the zoid gathering speed prior to reaching two hundred miles per hour and gaining height off the ground. As he lifted upwards, he pushed the zoid's wings to spread out and kept things sailing smoothly. He was having a great time while having the chance to pilot a real zoid for his first time. There was one problem with this, though, and it hit him harder than anything once he thought about it: he was supposed to be heading towards a combat zone, an area where an inexperienced pilot such as him would surely die.

His mind raced as he tried to think of ways to save himself. He could try to ditch, but the other pilots in their zoids would report what they had seen and would likely lead him into an even worse sentence. He'd be doing community service hours alongside the adults for many years, a lifestyle that he did not want to live. As a young kid, he'd be miserable more than anything else. After considering this, he figured he had no other choice but to go to battle. Besides, what could go wrong? He had always come in first place in those battle simulators, anyway.

At the same time, though, he was laughing at his father's words from a long time ago about piloting a zoid. This was just some random zoid that he knew how to pilot effectively. But he had the nagging fear that he wouldn't be laughing later on…


	3. A Legend Back to Glory Part 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**Update:** As of 12/6/10, I am now replying to anonymous reviews through my profile page (if an e-mail address is not attached).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**A Legend Back to Life**

There was a massive military base in the desert, designed with the intent of serving as an outpost that would allow the Zoid Battle Commission to be aware of any Backdraft zoids on land nearby. It could detect some aircraft, but its sensors had a limited upward detection range. However, it could easily pick up Backdraft targets on horizontal ground.

While being an outpost, the base also doubled as a site for excavation tools. There had been several instances where something that seemed to be of great importance and value was found laying somewhere in the desert. Most of these items were useless, to many people's dismay, often turning out to be a completely busted zoid or just a dead judge capsule. But today, the people were confident that their luck would be different. Just a few hours prior, a zoid eight miles away was discovered, with electrical signals still emanating from it. After getting a close look at the zoid, it became apparent that this one was one from the ages. Once the president heard the word, he gave the order to commence the excavation of the zoid, stating it would be a powerful aid in putting down the Backdraft Group for good.

The Liger Zero still laid where it had recently been found. Six Gustavs were strolling towards the ancient zoid, equipped with tractor cranes, excavation buckets, and towing platforms to take the zoid back to the base. One of the Gustavs parked its towing platform parallel to the Liger Zero so that the others would be able to lift it and place it back down where it could be carried away. The other Gustavs surrounded the Liger, getting their buckets and cranes ready for picking up the ancient zoid. Through teamwork, they were able to pick the zoid up on to the platform, though the piled up sand in it made doing so difficult. There were some scratch marks left on the zoid after the process, but they could be easily mended.

Once the Liger Zero was on the towing platform, the Gustavs proceeded back in the direction they came. The men controlling the rollers were cheering amongst themselves, thinking about whatever rewards they may get and the drinks they would share to celebrate their hard work.

* * *

Ven was analyzing the Pteras's controls, making sure he knew which buttons and triggers did what. His life was on the line, as much as he tried to forget about it, but his attempts failed once he saw the fiery sky looming in on him. The Whale King itself was taking a massive beating from the Raynoses and Storm Sworders that weren't caught in a dog fight. It was seemingly defenseless, with its weapons not being able to hit their targets at all. Several of the missiles it fired were shaken off and sent into completely different directions. The Backdraft pilots themselves were having the time of their lives. They were clearly the more experienced pilots, each one managing to take down at least ten Redlers and Pterases a piece.

As soon as Ven's attack force was within a mile's distance of the Whale King, orders were being spat furiously from the flock's commander. This was the same commander Ven encountered in the hangar.

"All units, assume 'Reznak' formation," ordered the commanding voice. Almost instantly, the Redlers and Pterases split up into four equal triangular shapes, except for Ven, of course – he had never been confronted with orders such as this before, so he stayed in the same spot, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. This didn't settle well with the commander.

"What do you think you're doing? I said assume 'Reznak' formation, or else you could end up costing us the battle!" Ven quickly grew anxious.

"I'm…I'm sorry, Sir, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"Must I repeat myself again? I said assume Reznak formation! Were you not paying attention during our drills?"

Ven looked around outside to see what the other pilots were doing, hoping he would figure out what he was being asked to perform. He was running out of time, however, as the attack force was now only half a mile away from the Whale King. He noticed the others formed the triangular shapes and tried to fit in with them. The commander still wasn't satisfied, since the number of zoids in each of the shaped formations wasn't equal. Still, it was too late for him to do anything about it. The other pilots were clearly peeved by Ven's actions.

When they were close enough, the commander gave the order for each of the regiments to split up and head towards the upper, lower, right, and left sides of the Whale King. Overall, the attack force consisted of three hundred zoids, enough to push back the Backdraft opposition. But it was going to take a while.

Ven was part of the regiment heading towards the top of the Whale King, much to the disliking of the pilots alongside him. They flew at full speed, with shots from the Backdraft zoids just barely missing. They held their formation, the Pterases and Redlers not showing any signs of being intimidated. As a few Raynoses swooped below them, the Redlers let out the blades in their tails and lowered them, managing to slice the enemy zoids in half. The group immediately split up, with the Pterases trying to shoot down the Raynoses and the Redlers going into direct combat with the Storm Sworders. Several blinding explosions soon followed as zoid parts could be seen falling from the skies.

Ven himself was doing average for someone who had never piloted an actual zoid before. He managed to take down at least three Raynoses before he met his match. The young pilot had gotten himself caught up in a dog fight with one particular Raynos, the same one who was leading all the other Backdraft pilots. The Raynos was flying behind Ven's Pteras, trying to get a good lock-on.

"I've got you now," muttered Ragnarok as his missiles locked on to Ven's Pteras. The teenage pilot received the lock-on alert and did whatever he could to shake them off. He pulled off several evasive maneuvers, many of which were ones he had never tried, and found no success in saving himself while the missiles closed in on him. Every time he even moved, the alert sign flashed even faster, as if to tell him to give up. There was nothing he could do, and he would have to accept that. Eventually, he took this thought to heart and stopped doing what he was doing. He knew it was hopeless. He knew he would die. With this running through his mind, the teenager closed his eyes, waiting for the worst to happen. At this point, seconds were becoming minutes, even the ones which he was using to perform a countdown in his head. He kept on making wishes, even when the Pteras didn't explode. The cockpit became completely quiet.

'_Wait… What's going on?'_

He opened up his eyes again once he noticed that nothing happened when it should have and saw that he was still flying. He looked around confusedly, but sooner or later breathed a sigh of relief, almost wanting to yell in excitement since he realized he was alive and well. However, even as the alert died away, a newer and more screeching one came on, right as he felt the reverberation of a strong blow on the zoids wings. The hit threw him around, making him cry out in pain as another warning popped up on his screens. the jet engines were severed greatly by the blows they ended up taking. To make things worse, Ven took a while to interpret it due to his aches, but once he did, his eyes grew wide, and he gripped on to his steering controls as tightly as he could and could feel the zoid spiraling towards the ground at maximum speed. Ragnarok left the Pteras to fall, figuring the pilot would die after the crash landing. No one had ever survived a direct attack from him. The Backdraft commander smirked before he took off in pursuit of another target.

As the minutes passed, the Pteras was halfway towards the ground, already nearly three hundred miles away from the Whale King. Ven was doing whatever he could not to puke as the zoid fell. Motion sickness used to be a huge problem for him when he was little, but he could've sworn the issue had completely resolved. Then he reminded himself that he was in a Pteras rapidly falling downwards, and the ground was still far in the distance.

* * *

Zanzer remained in the hangar as the rest of the pilots took off in their zoids. When hundreds of people are in a rush in one room, they tend to leave a huge mess, which left Zanzer and his companion, Thomas, with the task of cleaning up what was left behind. Footprints, badges, tossed-over cans and papers were everywhere, boring them more than anything else.

"Why couldn't we hire a janitor to do this?" complained Thomas as he snatched up a propane tank and put it on a table.

"We chose to do this for extra pay, if you remember."

"Yeah, but they never told us it was gonna be anything like this. And now that I think about it, we don't really need that extra cash."

"Well if you ask me, it's worth it. It's hardly any work at all, anyway, so we might as well do it."

"That's easy for you to say since you work out three times as much as I do," Thomas said as he struggled to lift two more propane tanks. "I can't even get a membership to a gym."

"I could help you with that, you know. Actually, I'd appreciate it since you wouldn't be moaning so much. Besides, they know me well enough and trust me when I bring in a new person." Zanzer was neatly rearranging tables and restacking chairs.

"You know, that would be great. Maybe then shit like this would be manageable for me." Thomas was breathing hard as he placed both the tanks next to the first one.

"Well, you're doing fine as you are," Zanzer sarcastically complimented. He rarely ever complimented Thomas in any manner, so it took his friend a little bit by surprise.

"I think that's the first time you've ever said anything nice to me."

"There's a first time for everything," the guard said, picking up small zoid parts and putting them in one spot.

"Only when it's logical."

"What, is there something illogical about complimenting?" Zanzer chuckled.

"When it's you dishing out the compliment, yes," Thomas sharply replied. Zanzer continued to laugh under his breath, not knowing what to retort with other than 'whatever.'

"By the way, I'm going to check on that kid to see how he's doing. I need to make sure he isn't trying to pull something clever," Zanzer informed.

"So you are getting soft on me!"

Zanzer just ignored Thomas's remark and proceeded out of the hangar.

"Okay, look, I was kidding! But who's going to help me clean up the rest of this mess?"

"Suit yourself," Zanzer tossed back. The entrance to the hangar abruptly opened and closed as Zanzer walked through it. Thomas, all by himself, held a frown on his face as he watched his former equal-rank colleague leave, leaving all of the work to himself.

The security leader weaved his way through the hallways, walking along a similar path that Ven took earlier. He could see the imprints of footsteps left by the pilots and guards who had rushed into the hangar, but he did not realize that some of them belonged to the teenager. It was only after walking for not too long that he stopped and noticed the door to the cells was left open. For this, Zanzer cursed, knowing the potential risks for when it's not shut. However, the biggest shock came when he stepped inside and looked at Ven's prison cell.

The guard couldn't believe that the only prisoner they had in there was gone. Zanzer remembered that he had at least locked the cell's door. He only realized what must've happened when he rested his hand on his belt and noticed something was missing. Zanzer looked at his set of keys and counted them, managing to only count nine out of the ten he was supposed to have. He looked around on the floor to see if he could find the pair that was missing, and soon found them next to Ven's cell's door.

'_That kid… I must've dropped the keys before I left. Since he's not here, he must've used them to escape and then taken off to somewhere else. But where…'_

So the search began. He looked all around the room and found nothing. Then he left and proceeded to look through all of the hallways, but still to no avail. Then he made his way to the locker rooms and looked through the aisles, shower stalls, and bathrooms. Nope, nothing. He then continued on by analyzing the entrance. When the escapee still couldn't be located, he decided to check to see if he was hiding somewhere in the hangar. If such was the case, he couldn't fathom how the teenager went unspotted. However, as he was returning to the hangar, he passed by his closet. It was something he always kept open since his air pilot uniform had a tracking device attached to it that would allow him to know which guard or pilot stole it if one ever did. This made a good way of testing the trustworthiness of the people who worked at the base. At this, he grinned, seeing the perfect opportunity to try out his uniform's technology. He brought out his troop identifying tracker and activated it, waiting for it to tell him who it was that took his uniform. All he got was 'no results.'

And that was what told him where Ven was: up in the skies in the midst of a battle. He knew that Ven must've been the one who took his uniform, as he had not employed as a security guard or pilot and therefore didn't have his own suit. Plus, only people who are employed at the base have their names show up. This told him that he must also be among the other pilots as well.

_That kid… He's a crazy one, alright. I guess he must not have known that he was going into battle, for whatever reason. And if I don't manage to get him back, I'll probably lose my job._

There was no time for him to think. Losing his job was the worst thing that could happen to him at this moment, so he bolted quickly back into the hangar. There was one Redler remaining, a zoid Zanzer hoped was fast enough to get him to the airborne battlefield before the teenager got himself killed.

Zanzer sprinted to the zoid.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked a confused Thomas. The majority of the items were cleaned off the floor and neatly arranged, much to Zanzer's delight. He had been gone for about fifteen minutes, so he wasn't surprised by the progress his right-hand security guard had made. He always was a dedicated worker under most circumstances.

"The kid's gone, so I'm going out to find him," responded Zanzer as an elevator platform rose him up to the Redler's cockpit.

"Wait, that same kid we just put in court?" Thomas put a hand on his forehead and shook his head. "What does it take for a little pest like him to learn?"

"We're the ones who are being outsmarted, because he apparently escaped by taking one of these zoids." As the cockpit opened, Zanzer climbed inside and allowed the safety harness to come down.

"One of our zoids? But how did he-"

"I dropped his prison cell's key and left the door to that cell room open. Then he stole my air pilot uniform and put it on, disguising himself as one of our pilots." Thomas was visibly growling and clenched his fists.

"I swear," he muttered, "as soon as I see that brat again, I'll break him!"

"Don't get too riled up," suggested Zanzer, "because I get the feeling that a sneaky guy like him could outdo you in a fight if you're not careful." The blonde guard was configuring the controls for his own uses.

"As if," retorted Thomas. "But aren't you required to wear your uniform before you can take flight so other pilots know you're with them?"

"As head of global security, they'll know my face. I planned on retiring that uniform anyway. So there's one of my bragging rights," said Zanzer, smiling as the cockpit closed. Thomas just spat at the ground. "If anyone asks, tell them there was something I needed to pick up at the Zi Tower." The blue-haired guard responded with nothing as his boss lined up the Redler with the launch track.

While he was doing so, Zanzer pulled out his troop tracker and programmed it to lock on to the exact location of his uniform. He didn't want to waste time trying to figure out which zoid the teenager was piloting, if he was still up there. Taking too long would likely result in either his death or the teenager's death, but the answer he got shocked him: Ven had somehow landed near the base that was handling the excavation of the Liger Zero. The guard couldn't comprehend how Ven must've escaped from the battle. To him, it meant he was shot down, but then he was trying to figure out how the zoid ended up where it did.

'_That kid must have taken a hit while flying at a weird angle_, He thought. _I hope he's still alive, otherwise I'm gonna have to speak up for myself in front of the president in front of the president.'_

Zanzer pushed the accelerators into full throttle, blowing stacks of papers behind the Redler that Thomas had neatly arranged all over the place. The zoid revved itself up to a high speed limit before it reared up its front legs and spread its wings, taking off into Zi's skies.

Meanwhile, Thomas could feel a sweatdrop rolling down the back of his head as he looked at all of the papers everywhere.

* * *

The Whale King started to tilt to the side as chunks started falling off and small explosions inside it occurred. Things were looking grim for the massive zoid.

"We are getting close to sustaining to heavy damage, Mr. President," announced one of the Whale King's pilots, "I don't know how many more minutes of this we can take!"

"That shouldn't be an issue right now – it seems like their forces are dwindling," Malcolm noticed, looking outside and watching as the Backdraft numbers depleted slowly. He could also see some of them retreating, Ragnarok's included. Ragnarok's Raynos was identifiable due to the large Backdraft insignia on its wings, an image of a blue Saber Tooth tiger surrouned by a black circle. Malcolm chuckled as he watched the pteranodon fly away, even though they didn't succeed in taking him down. He was happy to have even survived an assault from him, and watching him retreat showed promise. However, he kept on staring at the flyer as it flew away. He had the nagging feeling that there was something strange rather than victorious about him disappearing from a fight without a word, but he momentarily pushed that thought aside and focused on the current mission instead. His eyes shifted from the Raynos to his pilots.

"Sir, the Backdraft forces are retreating. What is your command?"

"Keep moving forward," Malcolm ordered. "Regardless of the damage we've sustained, we must get as close to the desert base as possible. Which reminds me, how will the damage affect us getting there?"

"It was our armor that took most of the damage. The jets are also not in one hundred percent condition, but they're not in a fatal state either. We're going to be traveling at three hundred miles slower, so our landing will occur in about forty minutes."

"Well, at least our delay won't be too, too heavy. Tell all the pilots to stay in the air around the Whale King – Backdraft zoids could return at any time."

"Yes, Sir," the men obeyed, immediately informing the pilots in the Pterases and Redlers of the president's orders. They confirmed the status of their new objectives and created a defensive formation around the Whale King. Nothing was going to take them by surprise. "So do we call this a victory?"

"I wouldn't say so," responded Malcolm. "It's not like the Backdraft to leave us like that. They're known for fighting till the end. I'll need you men to stay on guard too, just in case." The pilots nodded, keeping themselves on their toes. Normally, the president wouldn't have made such a big deal about the situation, but he knew Ragnarok to be a tenacious man and leader. If they were to slip at the wrong moment, it could cost them.

The rest of the flight was uneventful, besides some of the Whale King's jets crackling periodically. Each of the pilots in the Redlers and Pterases were gripping their steering controls – holding the element of surprise was a combat tactic the Backdraft Group was known for using. With this in mind, the zoids kept their formation tight.

The base soon became visible, with the massive zoid preparing to rest on the landing zone.

* * *

The crash landing had been a rough one as the Pteras flipped and bounced around before it collided with the sandy surface. Ven's body would have been thrown all over the place if it wasn't for the safety harness, although his head did hit the seat and the controls multiple times. The collisions struck him hard enough to knock him out for about thirty-five minutes until he regained consciousness, and he was confused, having woken up to find himself alone in the middle of the desert. He didn't know where he was and had a hard time piecing things together as the sun shone in his eyes. Everything was a blur, concerning him while he was tired and held his hand above his brows to allow himself to look around with his drooping eyes, trying to remember where he was. It frustrated him that not much was coming back, with all he could being stealing a Pteras and getting shot down in a battle in the skies.

'_Urrrggghhhhh… Damn. I guess those simulators or whatever weren't too good for anything__,'_ Ven mentally complained. He took off his helmet and shook his head, getting himself used to the brighter colors of the world once again. Then, once he got comfortable, a burning sensation hit him in the stomach and forced him to regurgitate, leaving a mess on the control panel in front of him. He was disgusted by his stomach's contents and tried to look away from them, but the smell kept him thinking about it. This let him know that he had to get out, so he searched for the button to open the cockpit and raise the harness. He pressed it once he found it and waited for the pressure on his chest to be lifted. It was soon gone, allowing the teenager to stand up and stretch while taking in the fresh air. Luckily, the top of the cockpit was facing upwards, so he didn't have to worry about falling out.

As soon as his muscles were alive and ready, Ven climbed out of the zoid and gained distance to stare at it from afar and see what had happened. There was smoke pouring out from the back due to the missiles from the black Raynos, leaving the blue zoid in critical condition. This also disgusted him, but he wanted to see how bad the damage truly was, so he moved around to look at where the Pteras had been hit and noticed several small burn marks on the zoid alongside a small fire. From here, he knew he was lucky that the fire hadn't spread to the cockpit. If it had, he would have still been stuck in the zoid. The adolescent sighed with relief as he looked around the blue wreckage, holding his helmet under his armpit.

_Perhaps from now on I should take my father's words a bit more seriously._ The zoid's fate let him know that it wasn't for him. His father's words kept swimming through his mind until his train of thought was broken by the sound of a loud aircraft above him. It caused him to look up and see the president's red Whale King with several Pterases and Redlers surrounding it in a formation. The zoids were instantly recognized from the battle he was just in, but no one seemed to notice him. The teenager looked to where the zoids were headed and could see a base about a mile from his current location.

He pondered with the idea of whether or not he should go inside of it. Sure, the president was going to be there and he may get to ask him some questions. However, by presenting himself, he risked facing an extended period of jail time.

_Oh, what the hell. If I stay out here, I'll die from this heat. At least if I serve more jail time I'll live._

With this in mind, Ven wasted no time in heading there, walking as fast as possible. He wanted to arrive there quickly, but knew running or jogging would make him break a large enough sweat that he'd probably get sick from dehydration. However, he felt as if the surface below him was uneven, even bumpy. He hadn't been in a desert before, but even looking at the ground, he noticed there were upward indentations that looked out of place. He couldn't figure out what they were, and still feeling the shock of his previous situation, he didn't want to stick around to find out. He walked as fast as he could while going slow enough to stay cool.

The truth was about a dozen Deathpions belonging to the Backdraft Group were hiding underneath the desert sand.

"We're awaiting your orders, Boss," acknowledged a greedy voice from within one of the scorpions.

"We'll have to wait another hour before we strike," mentioned Ragnarok's voice through a video image. "It's best if we get them while they're settled down and unprepared. That way, they won't have a chance of fighting back."

"Yes, Sir. But why is launching a surprise attack so critical?" queried a deeper voice.

"Have you forgotten the reason why you're here? They've excavated the Liger Zero and they're going to put it back into use," replied their leader.

"Yes, I know. But if that thing is such a threat, then why didn't we destroy it earlier?"

"Because doing so would've alerted the Zoid Battle Commission of our presence and would've had some of our pilots put under arrest. Then they'd use those men or women as a tool for tracking us down, something we can't afford to let happen if we wish to remain in power. Which is why I'm counting on you guys to do your job well."

"So I take it we're actually going to be battling the Liger?" asked a third, womanly and sinister voice.

"Possibly, but doing your job well will mean that you probably won't."

"But Sir, we wouldn't stand a chance against the Liger Zero! If it does come out to fight, shouldn't we just run for it?" chirped the first voice.

"I thought you were a soldier, Zion! As soon as I give the order, I expect to see a force of Deathpions attacking the base! If I see one running away, I'll kill the pilot later!" screeched the commander.

"Meep…I understand…"

"Good. It will be great to see that base and the Liger in flames." The video image disappeared, keeping the Deathpions waiting.

"Well that was smooth…" joked the third voice.

* * *

The Whale King was hovering above the landing zone until the pilots received word that it was okaysafe for them to bring the zoid down to the ground. Once they were given the 'okay' over the radio, the Whale King began to slowly descend while everyone at the base watched in anticipation, hoping that nothing else would happen. Luckily, everything stayed calm.

The zoid's mouth opened once the zoid hit the surface, allowing Malcolm and the pilots to exit. Everybody cleared a path for the president as he walked down and out into the landing zone, greeting everyone with a wave of his hand. He received waves in return from the crowd of engineers, mechanics, and pilots as the head lieutenant of the base walked up to him.

"Greetings Mr. President. It's been a while since we last met in person," the lieutenant greeted. She was a woman in her early thirties, standing roughly average height for a woman. Her dark brown hair shone brightly under the sun as it reached down to the top of her spine, nearly blending in with the colors of the base behind her. "Are you okay, Sir?"

"Who? Me?" wondered Malcolm, pointing to himself. "Nah, it'll take more than one battle to wear down this old man." Both he and the lieutenant hugged each other as they laughed, reminiscing about the past times they had seen each other. However, their embrace lasted for only a few seconds since there was business to attend to.

"Now, as for the task at hand…" Malcolm said as they separated.

"Yes, Sir. Right this way." She turned around and walked towards the zoid hangar with the president following suit. "We are just about to begin the testing phase with the zoid. However, before we do so, you may look at it in person and see what you think."

The two continued towards the zoid hangar as Malcolm continued to receive cheers. Everyone at the base was happy to know that their president was alive and well, since the attack on the Whale King had left them in a state of panic. All the pilots at the base were pilots who weren't able to head into battle due to there being no more zoids left, so each of them felt helpless while gunfire and missiles were being exchanged in the air. Seeing the man in front of them was a huge relief. Because of this, they were all ready to help him out, even just by opening the massive doors to the hangar. Malcolm thanked each of them for doing so, but he felt the need to thank them even more so once he saw what laid inside.

There it was, standing upright in the hangar in all of its glory: the myth, the legend, and the hero. The Liger Zero. The old white paint of the zoid had been replaced with a newer and brighter shade, and all the sand had been brushed off and squeezed out. But, as the lieutenant just pointed out, there was still work to be done with the it.

"It's…beautiful," Malcolm remarked. As a kid, he was confident that he would one day see the Liger Zero in person. It had always been his dream. But, witnessing that dream come true was a completely different experience, and one that was almost surreal. He walked up to it and placed his hand on its front left leg, feeling its cold and hard armor. It was the kind of armor that was rarely in-stock anymore.

"The work of getting this thing back in shape was difficult," informed the lieutenant while she too stared at the Liger Zero. "It was a good thing we had most of the parts this zoid needed replaced. We felt like having the zoid ready by the time you got here, so we got most of the people here to lend a hand. As a result, it looks as it currently does." Malcolm was heavily pleased.

"That's great. The sooner we can get it on to the field, the better."

"Don't get too ahead of yourself, Mr. President. The testing phase will be commencing in ten minutes, so that we may know how the condition of its functionality is."

"Yes…" Malcolm muttered. He took his hand off the zoid and continued, "Go ahead and perform any fine-tuning that you feel must be done, Rachel. I'll be waiting in the testing room so that I can see the results first-hand." The president then turned and proceeded towards the inner workings of the base, leaving Rachel with the Liger. He didn't want to leave the zoid, but seeing what it could do excited him even more.

* * *

**Liger Zero's POV**

I had been growing wary in what had seemed to be the past hour. Once again, I have been found by civilization, with it seemingly wanting to use me for some kind of war effort. These people have been glorifying me, referring to me as if I were some kind of divine entity. 'Seems as if my past actions have earned me a place in history, since all the pilots here say I was the zoid used for putting the Backdraft Group out of business. Too true, but it's flattering. Hell, they've even said something about me being their best hope for wiping them out for good this time. Does that mean that that sick organization has returned to power?

That's all I could possibly assume. And then there was this lady and this man that approached me and marveled at my sight. The man had been addressed as 'Mr. President,' probably meaning he was the ruler of this planet or something. Rulers are something I've had a bad history with, so I wasn't sure how trustworthy he was. But, at the same time, I couldn't help but feel thankful for him – it sounded as if repairing me was his idea, though I wasn't too sure of how I felt about his reasons.

Anyway, it felt great to be fixed up! The problem is is that that meant, as the lady had said, I was going to be tested, just to make sure everything worked properly. While it was going to feel great to run again, getting used to another new pilot…I just…don't know. These pilots probably weren't going to stick with me since this was going to be just a testing phase anyway, and they probably already have their own zoids. Still, I don't want to risk forming another bond with a human, so I'm not going to communicate with them. It seems to me like the people I come closest to end up dying because of me. And knowing that people that didn't deserve to die die right by me just kills me whenever I think about it!

But if another pilot and I did grow close, perhaps things would turn out different this time. It's been decades since my last pilot was killed, so maybe there are now better methods for keeping pilots safe when they're ill. It just sounds to me like whatever's been going on out there, it isn't even safe for a zoid like me, let alone sick pilots. It all makes me wonder if _I'd_ be able to handle myself out there, despite what all these 'worshippers' may make you think. Yeah, sure, I took down the Deathsaurer twice and managed to defeat the Berzerk Fuhrer, but I had aid in those situations. Although that victory over the Fuhrer felt more like a single-man/zoid win since my teammate got defeated before I _really_ joined in that battle. But still…

I could tell the testing phase was about to begin as a pilot approached me. I too didn't know of my current capacity, and I want to know what it is, so I lowered myself and opened the cockpit for him. At the same time, however, I kept reminding myself of what I've always been reminding myself…

* * *

Ven had his helmet back on as he reached the base. He was wearing the same suit the other pilots there were wearing, so he figured fitting in would be no sweat, and maybe even fun. But that's just what he thought.

Zanzer cranked up his Redler to move at full speed. This Redler in particular had specific attachments applied to it, allowing it to fly at the maximum speed of a Raynos if the pilot wished. In just only eighteen minutes, the head of security could see the base from a far distance. The Redler slowed down as it got closer, its head looking around to see if it could find the escaped prisoner, but by the time Zanzer had begun looking down below, Ven had already entered the desert base. What he could see, though, was an obstacle course set up, consisting of holographic recreations of various zoids, pillars, and checkpoints for the zoid being tested to maneuver around and defeat.

The zoid being tested was the Liger Zero.

_That thing's got some impressive agility and speed. But exactly how is it going to help us?_

He wouldn't argue about it since the president had confidence in this zoid, which was effectively enough for him to feel well about it as well.

Zanzer looked for a spot to land outside the base. The workers at the base hadn't been informed by him that he was coming so that he would not have to risk the embarrassment of him possibly having to tell them his reason for showing up. That, and their hangar was always packed full, so they only made room for incoming zoids if they were informed of their scheduled arrival. That left the outside of the base to be the only spot left.

The Redler righted itself as it found a flat area to land on, slowly touching the ground. While the contact was made, the zoid lifted the safety harness off Zanzer as he pressed the button for opening the cockpit. The security guard quickly jumped out and sprinted towards the base, having no intention of allowing the kid to interfere in anyway with whatever Malcolm currently had in mind. This was an important objective underway, and Zanzer felt the president deserved maximum concentration and peace.

Meanwhile, Ven was walking around inside the base, gasping at the cleanliness of the walls, floor, and the ceiling. The previous base where he was held prisoner was dirty in several spots and looked like no one had ever swept up any of the dust. The air in this base, however, was clean, complimenting the ambience. There were zoid pilots and mechanics taking a break from work and speaking with each other about various zoids topics. In fact, one of the pilots sitting by himself noticed Ven's presence and was friendly enough to invite him over to the table he was at.

"Hey, Kid, over here," called a voice. Ven was searching for the source of the sound until he saw a middle-aged man with long silver hair waving a hand. Ven walked up to the man before he was asked to sit down, looking all around to get a feel for the place he was in. In front of him was a circular table with seats around it, with the young pilot and the older pilot sitting on opposite ends of it. After some time, the constant staring gradually made the teenager feel uncomfortable.

"Take off your helmet. Enjoy yourself in here," the pilot recommended. Ven watched him drink a full glass of water as he slowly took off his helmet. The pilot immediately took notice of the similarities between the two of them as he narrowed his eyes at the young teen. Ven's image stirred up a range of thoughts and memories in his mind, but he quickly put them aside. "This air is far better than the air out there or in a helmet. It actually feels good to breathe." He put down the glass.

"Who are you?" queried the silver-haired kid. The stranger was beginning to creep him out with his easygoing nature that was aimed at someone he had just met.

"They call me 'Ken,' and to be honest, I'm probably the only man here who saw your crash landing. It's amazing how all it takes is one zoid to steal the attention of everybody around here. Then again, I suppose I'm not much of one to talk, since I would've helped you out had I not been offered to see the zoid in-person. You're lucky that things turned out the way they did for you." Ven was clueless about what zoid the pilot was referring to.

"Wait, what zoid are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about our newest one. The people who run this base sent out an excavation team that just recently brought in the Liger Zero. They're currently testing it to determine what its battling condition-"

Ven cut Ken short after hearing about the Liger Zero. He couldn't control himself with the shock he felt, exclaiming, "Wait, _the _Liger Zero? That zoid is actually here?!"

"Yup," Ken replied, laughing at the teen's excitement, despite feeling annoyed at the interruption. "If you look out through the window behind me, you might be able to catch a glimpse of it in the middle of one of its test runs." And then almost instantly, the eager pilot jumped up from his seat and ran to plant his face on the window, leaving Ken by himself again at the table. The older pilot continued laughing. Excitement was a sensation he himself hadn't felt since years ago. He gathered that despite Ven putting on the air pilot uniform, he was still a kid at heart. He just wondered how he managed to get such a uniform.

The teenager was awestruck when he saw the Liger Zero leap over cannonfire from a holographic Cannon Tortoise before tackling it and finishing it off with a slash to its face. This was apparently the end of the testing phase, as all the other holographic dead zoid bodies and pillars disappeared. Things weren't over yet, however, because the Liger Zero was savagely shaking itself until the pilot inside of it was forced to eject. Everybody was confused, and it made Ven frown. He knew something was wrong if that happened.

"What's wrong with the Liger Zero?" he asked.

"That's the tenth time it has done that in the past half hour," mentioned Ken as he walked up to the window and rested his hand on Ven's shoulder. Ven turned his head to look up at the man.

"Huh?"

"I'm sure you know that that zoid is an 'Ultimate X,' which means it has a mind of its own. Right now, it is apparently mentally unstable."

"Yeah, but…why?"

"Hmph," the pilot said ignorantly, turning the other way and walking backwards. "Wish I could tell you, Kid, but I don't know."

Ven looked at Ken with an annoyed expression, disliking the attitude that came with those words. However, his feelings of annoyance suddenly left him as soon as he looked out through the corner of his eye and spotted Zanzer opening the entrance door. The distressed security guard looked around the room for the teenager, walking slowly as though he was trying not to be noticed or questionable. That, however, was a demanding task since everybody who saw him was getting up to surround him, applauding him for his promotion. Before he knew it, the room became loud and unstable, with him thanking each and ever one of them and shaking their hands in return while he was trying to focus on his objective

"By the way, I never got your name," commented Ken, bringing the teen's attention back to him. The teen couldn't come up with the right words too well, because all he could really think about was getting out of the room as soon as possible.

"It's…" Ven stuttered, "…Ven. Listen, I…gotta go. See ya!" Ven abruptly took off and ran into the next room, the lobby. Unfortunately, Zanzer was looking around enough in-time ust as he was exiting, spotting him and aggressively pushing his way through the men and women surrounding him. He told them he had business he needed to attend to as he proceeded to chase after the runaway, ignoring all of their questions and complaints. While he was breaking through the small crowd, he passed by Ken. At the sight of the two running, the long silver-haired man laughed sinisterly with a quiet tone.

"So…your name is 'Ven,' huh? That must mean that you're related to _him_," Ken muttered. "In that case…"

He slowed his speech down as he looked out the window and watched as the Liger Zero roared mightily.

"…now I know what zoid to keep an eye out for, and it's the one I've been hoping for. Heheheh…"

* * *

Everyone in the lobby looked awkwardly at Ven as he raced into and out of the room, entering the curved hallways. They didn't think things would get any stranger until they saw Zanzer chasing him, angry with a determination that showed nothing could stop him. Ven kept up his sprint while bumping into several people, trying to find a turn in which he could throw off the guard. He could see he was being closed-in on when he turned his head to look behind him, causing him to pick up the speed even more so. Then he saw an intersection coming up where he took a left turn, praying that it would be what he needed to break free.

"Come back here, Kid," shouted the guard as he made the same turn, smashing Ven's hopes. The teenager continued running down the path before he looked at the automatic door in front of him and read the words on it: EMPLOYEES ONLY.

That wasn't enough to make him stop, though. He was intent on forcing the door down, but as he threw his weight against it, they didn't budge. He desperately tried once more before it was too late, only to meet the same result. Zanzer was only a few feet away from Ven, and he dove towards the young pilot, tackling him and bringing him down to the ground hard. All of the other pilots were watching what was happening as they heard a loud thud. Each of them were shocked to see the new global security lead already acting so offensively, and they knew things were serious as soon as he took out a pair of steel handcuffs. He closed them around Ven's wrists.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you could've caused?" Zanzer demanded with a strong tone of anger, sealing the handcuffs.

"I just wanted to pilot a zoid once," mumbled Ven. His face contorted from the pain of the guard's weight, and he could feel his arms lose their mobility.

"Yeah, you know, I think a lot of people in the world do. But when you're in prison, you stay in prison! Do you understand?!"

Ven didn't answer.

"Oh, what the hell, you broke the law twice in a row. As if a pest like you _could_ understand," Zanzer commented, grabbing Ven's arms and forcing him up. Everyone moved out of the way to let the two of them walk towards the center of the intersection, with Zanzer making sure to keep a firm grip on the teenager so that he wouldn't be able to run away again. All of the pilots and guards at the base knew Zanzer for his tenacity on keeping a hold of his aggressiveness, so they did their best to stay out of his way. He called one of the other security guards working at the base over to him, causing the man to tremble.

"So where are the prison cells in this base?"

"I'm sorry, Sir, but all the cells here are full," the shaken man responded. The sudden sweep of action had taken him by surprise and its toll on him.

"What?"

"We've been having an increased amount of criminal activity in this area, enough to fill up all our cells with prisoners."

"Then where are we supposed to keep this kid?" demanded Zanzer. He was disappointed with the current state of things.

"Well…" the man paused as he thought for a moment, "we do have that separate room in the hangar where we plan on storing the Liger Zero, but that's it." Zanzer growled under his breath as he looked towards the floor. Ven, however, loved the idea, smiling enough for one or two people to see his expression. "The zoid hasn't been accepting any of our pilots, so I wouldn't worry about him causing any trouble."

It took a few seconds before Zanzer said anything, but something eventually came out.

"Fine then," he begrudgingly stated, "if it's the only place to keep him in, then we have no choice. Direct me there."

"Yes, Sir." The man turned around as he led Zanzer to the destination. The shocked guard was wondering what Ven had done to make Zanzer so angry, but he preferred to not ask.

The trio took many turns at different intersections, trudging through the refinery and the café. It didn't take long for them to reach the hangar, which was several times larger than the one in Remma's base. But it was also a much bigger mess, making it difficult to find a clear spot on the floor to step on.

* * *

Up at the testing room, the president wasn't too happy when he saw the pilots of the Liger Zero were all covered with bruises.

"So what's the issue we're currently having, Lieutenant?" Malcolm asked as he sat down, trying to think of what was wrong. Rachel was looking at a computer monitor displaying the results from the testing.

"The scores the zoid is receiving are extremely high, but in addition to that, it is manually ejecting the pilots after it passes all of the obstacles."

"Hmmmm… It must have something to do with it being an Ultimate X." Rachel turned to look at the older man.

"Maybe. But why exactly is it not accepting us?"

"I remember I read something in an old book about how a hundred years ago, the Liger Zero only allowed one specific person to pilot it. I think that person's name was Bit Cloud…"

"So are you saying we need a dead person to get that zoid to fight for us?"

"I certainly hope that's not the case," replied Malcolm in a low tone. He was really praying that wasn't the problem since the Liger Zero would be crucial in finally putting the Backdraft Group down permanently. "Perhaps we just need to find someone who has a similar personality."

"How are we supposed to do that? Was this 'Bit Cloud' even documented?"

"I believe he was. I think I even read a little bit about him before. Whatever the source was, it said something about him being rather cheerful, arrogant, and clumsy in more ways than one." Rachel frowned upon hearing the description.

"Really? Because I met someone like that a long time ago. His name was 'Ven Night,' although I haven't seen him in a while. I know him because I used to babysit him when he was little, but that was years ago," she shared as she continued staring at the monitor.

"Do you know where he lives? Perhaps he could be of some assistance. Of course, people do change over the years, but who knows." Rachel shook her head as a way of saying 'no.'

"His family moved to somewhere else, and they forgot to tell me where. As for being of assistance, I don't even know if he pilots a zoid, or if he has ever piloted one, period." Malcolm had wished for a better response, but he figured he got what he would get.

"Oh, okay…" he moaned, feeling disappointed with how difficult his goals could prove to be. "Anyway, let us delay the rest of the testing till tomorrow. The results aren't going to change by tonight. Bring the Liger Zero in, and let's just assume that it's still adjusting to this environment."

"Okay then." Rachel proceeded to speak over the intercom, giving the order to bring the Liger Zero back into its own room in the hangar, the same room which Ven was about to be placed in as well in a few minutes. She wasn't happy either, because Malcolm would likely make her life as his lieutenant much harder.

* * *

"Be happy, Kid. At least you won't be alone in there," Zanzer said grumpily. They slowly approached the door to the Liger Zero's area, with Zanzer throwing in another comment or two. "And if you try to escape again, you'll probably be in prison for life, so don't try anything funny!"

The other security guard walked them closer, pulling out his keys to unlock the door and lock it right afterwards. The angry Zanzer shoved Ven into the room, nearly pushing him face-first onto the ground. Ven looked back and knew there was no getting out this time. The door was abruptly shut, and he heard the sound of it being sealed. This time, it wouldn't matter if there was a dropped key - this was a still door with no space to fit a finger in-between or under.

The teenager then heard a cockpit opening, and he looked towards the source of the noise. As soon as he looked, his jaw dropped, because he was now staring at a quadruped white and black zoid, bearing the features of a tiger and a lion. He quickly had to take cover behind several boxes as the pilot of the zoid climbed on to a raised platform that descended and let him on to a lower ground. Why this pilot wasn't injured or hadn't been ejected like the others was beyond Ven's comprehension. He looked at the man as he was trying to figure this out. He watched the pilot go through another door and lock it as well.

The teenager peeked out to make sure no one else was in the room. Right now, the last thing he wanted was to have someone start asking him questions, because those would likely cause that person to hate him as well. Once he felt it was safe, he came out from behind the cover and walked into the light. The teen sighed while he walked towards the Liger Zero since he no longer had to worry about anybody coming after him. Instead, he would get to spend time around a famous zoid, so he laid his back against one of its front legs and slid down.

'_Jeez, that guy's got some attitude,'_ Ven thought, thinking back to how Zanzer treated him._ 'I wonder what his problem is.'_

But the blonde wasn't the only one who had a problem with Ven.

He was about to close his eyes and fall asleep when he felt something moving behind him. It surprised him, but he ignored it soon since it was only small movement. He proceeded to close his eyes once again. Then another movement happened. This time, it was much rougher, and it literally threw him a few feet forward and against the ground. It momentarily scared him, but he rolled himself over quickly, grunting in pain, and looked up to see what it was that pushed him. The Liger Zero had opened its maw slightly, growling and returning its paw to its previous position.

"_I guess I must look like some kind of furniture to this amateur,"_ growled the Liger.

(**Author's Note:** Whenever, you see a quote where both the words and the quotations are italicized, like seen right above, it's really a series of roars/growls/grunts coming from the Liger Zero, translated into English. However, Ven can understand what the Liger Zero is saying. The reason for this will be explained later on in the story)

"What…?" Ven mumbled as he tried to get himself back up. "Did someone just…call me an amateur?"

The zoid was baffled by how this stranger was able to understand what he was saying. Sure, his first two companions were able to communicate with him, but they just made accurate guesses as to what he was saying. Neither of them was able to actually understand him.

"_Wait, this kid can make out what I'm saying? How is that possible?"_ growled Liger Zero.

"Look, whoever you are…you're not actually talking behind my back." Ven was able to get himself into a position where he could hop back on to his feet. "If you're gonna talk about me like that, then show yourself!"

"_Erm…I'm right here."_

"What do you mean? I don't see you!" The teenager clearly confused.

"_Look up."_ Ven did as the Liger said and looked up, searching for a person and waiting for him or her to come down.

"All I see is the Liger Zero," whined Ven, still not getting it.

"_Yeah, ummm…that's the point."_

"The Liger's the point? Hold on, wha-"

Ven cut himself off when the Liger Zero turned its head downwards to look at him.

"_Hey there."_

And then Ven fainted.

* * *

**Before any of you guys start speculating, no, that man with long silver hair is not Prozen under a different alias. He is my own OC.**


	4. A Legend Back to Glory Part 2

**Disclaimer: **I do not own zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**Update:** As of 12/6/10, I am now replying to anonymous reviews through my profile page (if an e-mail address is not attached).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**A Legend Back to Glory Part 2**

"All right, men, assume your positions," ordered Ragnarok to the Deathpions.

"Roger."

The scorpion zoids split up from their group as they moved closer and closer to their target. They formed three equal mini groups and curved around the area, each forming a straight line with their aim set at a specific portion of the base. Each group was led by one of the attack force's leaders, all of which were Zion, Lamarck, and Lea, the three people whom Ragnarok argued with earlier in the day.

"It is crucial that each of you wait until I give the signal. Acting too early or too late will allow the enemy to react much more precisely," their commander relayed. The trio nodded as all the troops were readying themselves for combat. Success in this operation would guarantee a high chance of the Backdraft's victory over the Comission.

* * *

The Liger Zero just stared at Ven. The zoid was confused as to how the young man understood what he was saying, but he was also concerned about his condition. For the sake of checking on the escapee, he nudged him a little bit more.

(**Author's Note:** Yes, Liger Zero is a 'he')

_'Great. This must be the third innocent person that died because of me.'_

However, he retracted that thought as soon as the kid sprang back to life, slowly trying to get back up once more. The zoid was taken aback by the sudden reaction and moved his paw away, growling lowly. Ven rebalanced himself and was breathing hard as he stood up on his legs and looked away from the Liger.

"Ughhhh…I think I should stay away from beer from now on," Ven commented. He trudged over to a metallic column and laid back against it, sighing as he slid down.

_'Okay, so he's not dead. Weird human…'_

The Liger Zero was slowly starting to find the teenager interesting. He made small and silent movements towards him, so that Ven wouldn't notice him, or else he'd probably shriek and freak out. Of course, that's easier said than done when you're a massive robot that weighs tons.

Ven raised his head to get a look at the zoid to see if he was just imagining things earlier, and then he became sure he wasn't as soon as he saw the zoid moving its legs and closing in towards him. (Anime-style sweat drop on Liger's head) Ven screamed, leaving his spot and trying to get as far away from Liger Zero as possible.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT? WHAT DO YOU WANT? I'LL DO ANYTHING! JUST DON'T EAT ME!"

"_Idiot. It's not even possible for me to eat."_

Ven stared back at him blankly. He didn't know what to make of the situation, so calming down took him a while. However, once he could tell that he was in a nonthreatening situation, he relaxed and stopped in his place, though even after his mood swiveled down, he still couldn't believe he was talking to a zoid.

"Wait, then…what will you do?"

"_I can't really do anything unless I've got a pilot in my cockpit."_

"Then why can you move around? Heck, why are you even talking?" Ven's mixed-up thoughts were reaching new heights. He'd never known of a zoid that could operate in any way on its own, even though he did figure that there must've been something else that made this zoid so historic.

"_Talking? I'm not talking; I'm just making the sounds any Liger zoid makes."_

"Huh? What sounds?" queried the baffled adolescent. If he could've, Liger would've put a paw on his head.

"_You know, growls, grunts, roars, whatever…"_

"I don't hear anything except your voice."

"_Which is what _I _don't understand."_

"Wait, so do all zoids have a voice, then?" Liger Zero couldn't even believe he was getting into this conversation. He had met clueless people before, but he thought this was something else.

"_Well…no, zoids don't have voices. Not human voices, that is, so why you're able to understand me is beyond my comprehension." _Ven was trying to get on his feet again, stumbling occasionally as he did. He took his time to look at Liger Zero, the zoid of his dreams, as it moved back and dropped down into a curled position. It seemed to the teenager as if he just _had_ to be dreaming right now, although he knew he wasn't. There was just something telling him that this was real.

"You still haven't told me why you can move around, though."

"_What, you haven't seen a wild zoid before?"_ grumbled Liger.

"I have, but…something about you is different," Ven mentioned, trying to pinpoint the differences in this zoid compared to others. "You're a bit more…alive." The zoid laughed.

(**Author's Note: **There is an episode where Liger Zero actually laughs. This is for those who don't think it's possible for him to do so)

"_Wouldn't you like to know,"_ Liger muttered sarcastically. Ven wasn't going to sit with that response.

"Yes, I would," he replied, determined to learn about this Liger. "You're a legend, you know."

"_As if I didn't figure that out. You humans talk about me as if I'm Eve." _The zoid's tail swished about, with something clearly not settled in its mind.

"That's…probably because of our situation right now." Ven's head faced down as he approached the Liger Zero, trying to think of a good explanation. He was also still perplexed by the fact that he was talking to a zoid.

"_Situation? Is there some evil thing lurking around out there?_

"Well, kind of…"

"_And what 'kind of' answer is that?"_ Demanded the now intrigued zoid, turning its head to look at Ven.

"There's this organization out there called the Backdraft Group-"

Liger Zero raised its head up high and cut Ven off, _"The Backdraft Group? So those sickos _are_ back…"_

"Yeah, and they're doing what they did back in your day," The teenager grimly muttered. Simply talking about the Backdraft Group was enough to bring discomfort to his mind.

"_How does an amateur like you know anything about that?"_

"Excuse me?" Ven never was fond of unnecessary insults, especially when they were repeated.

"_Well?"_

But Ven continued, all the while displaying an expression of irritation. It bugged him even more since this was his most favorite zoid speaking like this. Speaking…

"Like I said, you're a legend, which means I learned about you in a class."

"_Class? What the heck is that? Some kind of glass?" _Now it was Ven's turn to feel dumbfounded.

"No, it's a program that people use to learn about things," Ven responded. He was wondering how the zoid was going to interpret that explanation.

"_So you humans have to sit in front of a computer screen just to learn? Jeez…"_ Ven grumbled himself, knowing that the explanation would be hopeless.

"Ugh, nevermind," he mumbled. "But you still haven't answered my question!"

"_Well didn't this glass-"_

"Class!"

"_Whatever. Didn't it teach you anything else about me?"_

"No."

"What's with all the commotion in there?" shouted a commanding voice. Ven turned around to see Zanzer standing in a doorway, and the man's patience was clearly gone as he stared down the teenager, his eyes practically forcing a response out of the tired escapee. The teenager gulped, making up a response.

"Ummm…nothing at all, Sir. I was just daydreaming like I always do."

"That won't work with me, Kid. I know I heard the growls only a zoid could make. If you are caught trying to escape with that zoid, you'll be imprisoned for life," Zanzer rubbed in. The guard was confident he would have his way with the prisoner. He even pulled out the documents he obtained about Ven during the session at the court.

"By the way, your name is 'Ven,' right?" Zanzer curiously poked.

"Yeah."

'_His name is _what_?' _the Liger mentally jumped, with memories from his past stirring up.

"Ven," Zanzer started slowly, "so I expect it to quiet down in here. If you create anymore commotion that greatly disturb others, I'll have no choice but to silence you myself." The man pulled out a taser. "Do you understand?!" Ven caught sight of the taser and weakly nodded. "Good!"

And the door shut abruptly, leaving the two in the room by themselves again.

"I never understood his issues," whispered Ven.

"_Yeah…" _Liger quietly growled, not being able to shake a specific thought out of his mind. _"But your name was…what, again?" _He could've sworn he heard the name of his friend from decades ago, but he had to check to make sure. If this teenager did have the same name, then perhaps that would mean something.

"It was 'Ven.' Why?" Then Liger heard the response and was suddenly disappointed, bringing his head back down. He was unhappy about something. "Okay, look, I know there's something you're keeping from me. Now what is it?"

"_As I said before, wouldn't you like to know."_

"And as I said before, yes I would," Ven asserted as he walked closer to the feline and sat down next to it. His legs had been through enough for the day, having been used for running, sneaking, and hitting brakes and gas pedals in a zoid. "Why not just get it off your chest?" Liger Zero shifted around slightly, bringing his head a little closer to Ven so that the human could hear him easier.

"_It's just that it's…"_

"It's what?" piped the curious teenager.

"_It's…tough to talk about. I mean, I've never talked about it with anyone or anything before."_

"Well just try anyway. My mom always told me it's better to talk about whatever's bothering you than to just live with it."

"_Oh really? And how much has that meant to you?"_

"A lot," Ven spoke back, staring up at the ceiling as he began recalling memories. "I remember I used to fantasize about being the best pilot who owned the best zoid when I was little. It used to bother me nonstop when I realized there were opportunities to make those fantasies real that were missed due to my family having problems gaining resources for just about everything. So then I started to tell myself that it just wasn't gonna happen. Instead, my only dream became to one day pilot a zoid."

"_And did you ever live that one through?"_ All the words Ven was muttering were beginning to trigger emotions in Liger Zero as he reminisced about his first friend. He remembered that when he first met that kid, his dream was to pilot a zoid. Liger continued to pay attention to Ven.

"Yeah, I did recently. It's the reason why I'm in here, which you may not believe. I was being held as a prisoner at another base for trespassing, because I wanted to see what was up with our ruler, or 'president' as we call him. But I managed to break out and steal one of the zoids there. I didn't know it at first, but I was actually heading into battle with the Backdraft Group. Then I was shot down in the Pteras I was using and crash-landed near here. And then that man we just saw, who was the same man who arrested me before, managed to somehow follow me and find me."

'_This kid stole a zoid, kind of like how Bit used to steal zoid parts. And then his name sounds like… This can't be happening!'_

"So there, now that I've told you a little about myself, it's your turn," Ven requested, looking at the zoid with sharp eyes. He had set this up to get Liger to talk, and the legend itself would've found it disrespectful to not give in return.

"_If anything, a lot about me is…well, similar to you," _growled Liger, referring to his past with his two deceased friends. Ven looked at him confusedly again.

"Huh?"

"_There were two people whom I've had a connection with before, both of them having been my pilots once. And what ended up happening to both of them was…well…"_ the zoid moaned, recalling both of the two most tragic events in his life. Ven was able to fill in the blank and breathed deeply. The feeling this zoid was experiencing was something Ven could relate since he had experienced his share of losses, the heaviest being when he lost his girlfriend.

"I take it that has something to do with you ejecting all those other pilots?"

"_Yeah. It's like accepting them would be like trying to replace those two. I just don't know if I could…take that…"_

"I see…" Ven related. "But I still don't get how you're still functioning. How is it that a zoid can still work after all those decades?" Liger Zero tried to think of how he would answer.

"_Oh, how do I explain this…?"_ The answer was a long process.

* * *

Zanzer was walking down an empty intersection, the same one in which he had recaptured Ven. The prisoner's actions still irritated him, however, because they nearly caused him to get into trouble with the president. Screwing up almost immediately after a would have destroyed his career.

Several men and women passed him by, looking at him nervously as they did. He _did_ just tackle a person ruthlessly. And now that he was the head of global security, they wondered what he would do if they pressed his wrong buttons. Luckily, he left their sight soon as he exited the room. The president may have heard something happen, so Zanzer wanted to be there to reassure him that everything was fine.

Once the guard returned to the cafeteria, he was stormed by the same people from only few minutes ago. They hadn't heard about what just happened, so his presence didn't intimidate them. Instead, they had him surrounded from all sides, treating him as if he was a celebrity before a flurry of questions followed, all of which related to his current position in the government. One person even asked him if the president has told him anything about what will be done with the Liger Zero, while another wanted to know what plans were being made to stop the Backdraft Group. He told them all that all answers were closed information, and that he was currently on a tight schedule.

Back during the days when he was still new to working for the government, Zanzer had regularly visited this base as a hang-out spot. He met several people here whom he became acquainted to, all the while exploring the place, so he knew the base inside-out. The testing room was only a couple of floors up, allowing for quick access there through an elevator. He assumed Malcolm was up there, too, so the man had to push his way through the people again, wanting to talk to the president quickly before he left the base to return to Remma.

Zanzer stepped into the elevator as it opened and pressed the button inside to close it. It was designated to transport individuals from the first floor to the testing floor, so no additional buttons needed to be pushed. It was convenient to his liking.

As soon as the metallic door opened again, Zanzer trodded out and walked towards the testing room. As he was a step away, he took a deep breath and straightened out his attire. Looking untidy in front of the president was in some ways viewed as a form of disrespect, so people always looked as good as they could before making their appearance in front of him. Once he felt comfortable, the guard twisted the handle and slowly opened the door. He peeked inside as he saw Rachel and Malcolm sitting on a couch, conversing with each other. The two of them were enjoying a cup of coffee as they discussed what they would do next with their recent zoid. However, Rachel heard the door creak and looked to see who it was. He was afraid she would revolt, but she smiled and waved at him instead.

"Hello there, Zanzer," Rachel welcomed. "Seems like you've grown a little." Zanzer smiled in return, but kept his eyes on the president as the older man twisted himself to get a good look at who was coming in. He was as surprised as he could be at the moment.

"What are you doing here? Did you make that crowd rougher?" Malcolm joked.

"Not at all, Sir. I just had a small issue here that I needed to attend to," said Zanzer as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"Oh really? And that's more important than keeping the city under control?"

"All the chaos there has been completely suppressed. I have the best of our men patrolling the streets to make sure everything stays safe," the young man reported. Malcolm was pleased, but then displeased a second later.

"Well that's one positive thing to hear today," the president complained. Zanzer didn't understand.

"Has something gone wrong?"

"Nothing went wrong," Rachel explained. "We're just disappointed that things didn't go better." He was still trying to piece things together. Rachel noticed this, seeing his facial expression and continued, "We've finished testing the Liger Zero for today, and the results weren't what we were hoping for."

Zanzer took off his hat to cool off, as it was common for some of the desert air to seep inside it.

"Does it have something to do with you creating another one of your impossible-to-complete courses?" the man said slyly with a sense of humor. Rachel gave him a sharp stare.

"As if you could do better, _Zanzy_," the woman mocked as she watched Zanzer hang up his hat.

"Alright, alright. Jeez, I'm getting teased from both ends," he moaned, referring to Thomas' earlier remarks.

"That's enough, you two," Malcolm jumped in. Hearing bickering from two younger people was wearing him thin. "We're going to need to get some rest tonight, since tomorrow is going to be a busy day." He picked himself up off the couch and opened a door to his right, revealing a hallway that led to the president's rest area. He was gone without saying another word, which surprised both Rachel and Zanzer. Then they remembered how typical his behavior was and forgot about it. He was a constantly busy man, so they knew they would be like him too if they were in his position. Their currently busy jobs told them enough about what his could be like.

In the meantime, Zanzer took a seat next to Rachel and spent some time with her. Just like with Thomas, Zanzer and Rachel became good friends many years ago. They graduated from the same high school and college and eventually moved on to working for the government, though Rachel did so much sooner. Ever since then, they've paid a few visits to one another when they could find the time to do so.

"By the way, that reminds me," she mumbled, putting down the coffee, "how has Thomas been doing?"

"He's still his same old self."

"As usual, the typical response," the lieutenant mentioned.

"I don't think people like him can change," Zanzer joked.

"Hey! Don't say that about him!"

"I was just kidding," he defended. While he enjoyed getting into an everyday conversation with her, Zanzer could tell by her tone that there was something else on Rachel's and the president's mind, and it was something that he felt an individual of his status should know.

"So…Rachel?"

"Yes."

"Would you mind telling me exactly what's been happening here? Both you and the president seem moved about something." As he finished talking, the woman stood up and walked towards the monitors towards the front of the room.

"Come here. It'll help if you get a good look at these." He didn't exactly understand what she was trying to get at, but he complied. She moved her chair out of the way to make room for him to get a good view of the test scores Liger Zero had received. The numbers and percentages he saw astonished him, all of which were higher than any other scores he's ever seen, so he couldn't figure out why she, nor Malcolm was happy.

"What's the problem, though? These scores are exactly what we wanted, right?"

"Yes, they are. But what the issue is is the Liger Zero's recent behavior." Rachel looked Zanzer in the eye as he did the same. "It's the one flaw that if we can fix, the zoid will be perfect. You see, each time the test finishes, the Liger ejects the pilot."

"Really? But why is this?"

"The president and I have a theory that it may have to do with the pilot itself. Going off of what he told me, there was only one pilot whom the Liger Zero allowed to get in its cockpit a long time ago. He also said that person was a pain and a bit weird, or something like that."

Zanzer's mind kept thinking about that last sentence. He had just met someone like that, and it disturbed him too.

"Perhaps fortunately, I know someone who is kind of like that. I kinda miss him since I haven't had the chance to see him again in years," Rachel recalled.

"Heh…I sort of know someone like that as well," the guard muttered. Rachel took note of his tone as he looked away.

"And that's a bad thing?"

"No, not at all. The memory just made me think about some things I'd rather not remember." Rachel threw another irritated face as she heard the response – she had hung out with several guys in the past and learned to become aware of when they were keeping secrets from her. The fact that they tried to do so didn't satisfy her one bit, but she knew Zanzer and knew there was no forcing an answer out of him.

"Whatever," she said grumpily, turning her head to look back at the monitors. "Did this person ever pilot a zoid?"

"I believe so. As far as I know, he even stole one," Zanzer replied lowly. It made him remember how it was his fault Ven had escaped.

"You still sound a bit disturbed. I take it it's because it was one of your zoids?"

"Yeah, that's…exactly why." Zanzer hung his head low, knowing what Rachel's reaction would be to that response (Sweat drop rolls down his head). As if on cue, the lieutenant entered a giggle fit, almost bursting out in laughter while clutching her stomach.

"Oh wow, Zanzer! Isn't that like the fifth time that's happened to you? First, there was that time during our college graduation party. Then there was-"

"Don't. Even. Mention it," the guard growled back. Right when he finished his sentence, Rachel's face narrowed again.

"Well someone's a bit moody," she murmured. "Do you mind telling me this person's name, at least?"

"Ven Night," he sharply responded, and then that response made her lose it once again, but in a different manner. She almost felt as if her jaws were about to drop off.

"Wait, _who_?"

"I said Ven Night. Why? Do you know him?" Rachel didn't respond as she stared at the guard with her eyes wide and her mouth open. Zanzer looked nervously at the lieutenant. Whenever she stared at someone like that, it meant she was about to do something to react in a harmful manner. "I take that as a yes?"

"Do I know him? _Do I know him?_" she repeated. Now Zanzer was slowly panting. In fact, he was sweating. "Did he have silver hair?"

Zanzer nodded and gulped at the same time. Then, in only a split-second, the unthinkable happened: Rachel grabbed the collar of his shirt with both of her hands and held him upward off the ground. The guard wasn't prepared and gritted his teeth as he looked down at her. He remembered she always was stronger than a lot of other women, but this was something he had no understanding of. His sweat became even more noticeable.

"Tell me, when was the last time you saw him?" commanded the lieutenant as she kept her pleading eyes locked on to Zanzer's face. "If he's closeby, maybe I can see him again!"

"Erm…well…the last time I saw him…"

It was an answer he didn't want to give. If she found out he had locked up Ven, and in the hangar of all places, she would kill him. Though something else that clicked in his mind was the fact that Ven may be the appropriate pilot for the Liger Zero, creating the fear the he may escape once again. But the current predicament was what had him more concerned right now. And lying wasn't a part of his character.

"…was today."

"Today? Where?"

"He was in Remma."

…Or at least not a big part of his character. But he wanted to save himself from her, hoping that she would never learn of his presence here. Rachel let go of his shirt and thought about the location he mentioned, allowing Zanzer to start breathing normally again.

"Well at least that's not too far away," she mentioned, ignoring the state she had left Zanzer in and calming down. "I'll have to pay him a visit once we finish our work with this zoid."

The guard was still in a state of shock from her sudden grip on him and couldn't say much more than, "Yeah…that would be good."

The two of them stood silently as they analyzed the test scores again. They both wondered how any zoid could achieve what the Liger Zero did. If there was anything else that made the zoid legendary, it had to have been in relation with the numbers in front of their eyes. However, they knew that meant nothing unless they could find a suitable pilot.

And Zanzer was trying his best not to think about Ven.

A new window opened up with a beeping sound following it. The lieutenant looked at it more closely and was horrified. It displayed a warning message detailing that the refinery was being assaulted by an unknown force. It wasn't long before explosions could be heard coming from somewhere in the distance.

"We're being attacked," Rachel alerted. She opened up another window on the monitor to get a video feed of what was happening and saw the refinery suddenly in flames. As soon as it came up, both Zanzer and her could see a group of Deathpions splitting up and away from the structure, moving on to a new target. The security guard brought his face up closer to the monitor to get a good look at the zoids and tried to see if he could figure out whom they belonged to. Each of the machines were painted black with imprints of the Backdraft insignia visible on all three of them.

"Guess they weren't finished," notified Zanzer. "We'll need to spread the word quick for those who aren't aware of what's going on."

"I'll handle that." Rachel grabbed the microphone for the intercom and passed on an order to everyone in the base.

* * *

Ven and Liger Zero remained in their separate room in the hangar. The prisoner held his seating position as he thought about all the information the zoid had shared with him. It was a lot for him to take in, and his mind was still processing all of it.

"Wow…guess you're quite something," complimented Ven. "They never taught us this much about this 'organoid system' or whatever."

"_Right now, there's probably no one besides me who understands it that well."_

What the Liger Zero told the teenager was that it had a computer system built into it that allowed it to make intelligent decisions so that it could memorize certain patterns pertaining to specific combat strategies. These were capabilities several opposing pilots from decades ago had come to identify him by whenever they challenged his second pilot or vice versa. While the real truth was that he was actually an organoid bonded to a zoid's core, he didn't think the kid would believe him. Either that, or it would be too much for him to grasp, since he wasn't sure what Ven would think if he didn't already know what an organoid was and suddenly learned about it.

"Makes sense. Although wasn't there another zoid that had it as well?" asked Ven.

"_Yes, there was, and maybe there still is. I faced off against that zoid before the Backdraft Group was put under arrest. I also managed to win against it, and since then, I haven't seen it again."_ Then the young pilot decided to ask a more intriguing question.

"Do you miss it?"

"_Do I what?"_

"Do you miss it?" The zoid was surprised by the question, so it took him a while to conjure up a response.

"_Well I never got to know it personally, so…no…"_

But now that he began thinking about it, Liger Zero did start to miss the Berzerk Fuhrer. It was the only other entity from his own time. Whether or not that zoid was still alive was beyond the feline zoid's knowing, and it made him curious to know if he was ever going to see it again.

However, both of their thoughts were interrupted as they caught notice of a loud noise forming outside the door that led into the hangar. It sounded like people running about, scrambling to find or get something. Ven figured out what must've been happening when he heard the sounds of zoids moving. It was the same sort of noise he had experienced up in the skies.

"There must be some kind of emergency going on," Ven commented. He and Liger Zero knew he was right when they began to hear several explosions, some of which seemed to be happening inside or near the hangar. This caused Ven to relive the earlier segment of his day in his head and pushed him to look for something to hide under in order to evade the ceiling fragments that were beginning to collapse. The teenager quickly found a spot under a metal floor attached to the wall and huddled under it while covering his head in the process. Liger Zero, on the other hand, was confused by him again.

"_What the hell are you doing?"_ The zoid queried. He thought the adolescent was smart enough to know that given this kind of assault, the metal floor could break off and smash him.

"Trying to save myself!" It was only when Ven heard the rattling above him that he realized why the zoid was so concerned, but by the time he looked up, it was too late for him to do anything. All he saw was the now-detached floor falling down on him. Horror controlling him, he closed his eyes, waiting for his death to come.

'_Is this what I get for breaking the law? C'mon, it wasn't even that bad!'_

However, he heard another clang instead. It surprised him, but what surprised him even more was the fact that he was still alive. Ven opened his eyes again, With Liger's claw right above him. At just the right time, the zoid had pounced over to his location and swiped the massive chunk of metal before it could connect with Ven's head and kill him. Liger Zero had saved his life. The teenager just stared up at the massive zoid as he took his hands off of his head. To him, being rescued by his idol zoid, no matter what its attitude was, was something beyond his dreams.

"You…saved me!" Ven exclaimed. Liger Zero looked down at the teenager as he was continuously pelted by the fragments of the crackling roof. Even he himself was surprised by his own action.

"_Yeah, I guess I did... Heheh."_

And as the zoid and the human locked on to each other, eye-to-eye, they both realized something: that despite their seemingly rocky relationship, there was something between them that was meant to be. Something between them that would somehow last.

The massive mech backed up, looking around and trying to figure out how they were going to escape from the crumbling insides of the building. He knew that if he and Ven stayed where they were, they would eventually be killed by the rubble that would crash on them. But he was also wary about running himself into the walls and breaking through since he didn't know what was out there attacking and where any shots would be coming from. He would have to blast a hole with his shock cannon if he wanted to know if it was safe to just charge out or not. The enemy would then likely charge for him, so he'd have to fight them off, but this was where he needed a pilot. That was when he looked at Ven again. The debris had apparently broken the handcuffs the teenager had worn around his wrists as he wiped off his hands.

'_No, I can't.' _Liger Zero mentally uttered. _'__I already told myself that I'm done bonding with pilots.'_

But the zoid knew that he would need the young pilot right now. It was for the sake of his life and the human's. Besides, Ven was the one other intelligent being he could currently relate to. However, that same thing was what was making his decisions harder. Ven was a person similar to his past best friends. In addition, he knew that allowing the teenager into his cockpit would restart the feelings of partnership. Even with that in mind, it was still just him and the teenager.

_Well if I don't allow him to pilot me, we'll both die. So…_

And that's when the zoid finally decided. It was a decision that challenged his morals, but one that he knew was right. Ven could tell what his intentions were as the pilot saw Liger's head descend. Its jaw touched the ground, and then the cockpit opened.

_I'll do it._

"Are you…serious?" What Ven was witnessing before him was something he never thought would happen. In fact, he was overjoyed, despite the fact that he was sure Liger Zero was thinking about making this piloting experience temporary.

"_Get in, unless you wanna get crushed in here,_" the zoid ordered. The teenager jumped up and wasted no time in running towards the zoid and climbing up into its seat. The feline manually closed the cockpit and stood up to its full height. _"I assume you know how to control a ground zoid, right?"_

"I have experience," Ven replied. The safety harness came down on the teenager as he activated the combat systems.

"_Not exactly promising, but it's _good_ enough."_

The covering of the cockpit became transparent with a tint of red, allowing Ven to view the Liger Zero's surroundings.

"So how do we get out of here?"

"_How? We force our way out!"_

Now that its combat systems were activated, Liger aimed its shock cannon at the wall and fired, blowing out smoke and sending building fragments flying around. Despite this, the wall still remained heavily intact.

"We're barely even damaging it," Ven moaned.

"_So we keep trying!"_

The surfaces around them continued to shake even more as the forces outside repeatedly launched shot after shot. It would only be a matter of time before the building would collapse.

* * *

The Backdraft Group had succeeded in launching their surprise attack. All the people within the base were desperate with shock and fear as they rushed for their zoids, although it was dangerous for them to do so as the hangar was being torn to shreds. Those who did manage to get into their zoids were immediately shot down by the artillery launchers the Deathpions were equipped with. To complicate matters, the scorpions also deployed smoke bombs whenever they were spotted, making tracking impossible for the base's zoids' visuals and sensors.

Zion was laughing maniacally as he watched regions of the desert base go up in flames. He was a short, stubby man who had dark skin and short dark brown hair, with his grayish suit illuminating under the light inside his zoid. Among the Backdraft subordinates, he was a well-known pilot who had a reputation for pranking and annoying others, and he often failed to cooperate with a team. The only reason why he was assigned to this job was because there was no one else who wanted to participate in the mission, much to Lamarck's and Lea's dismay. Zion liked to act first and think later. They were the opposite. They never got too excited about anything.

Both of them wore lighter-colored suits, with Lea's being blue. Her ear-length hair shone of the same color, not contrasting her intimidating green eyes. Lamarck was of a stockier build, with his flat gray hair reflecting his age. While Lea liked to talk more than Lamarck and make comments, she still failed to match Zion's ego.

Screams continued to pierce through several sections of the base as the assault continued, not showing any signs of quieting. Those who were caught trying to retreat to the turrets were shot down and killed. The situation had seemingly become hopeless for the base residents.

"Hahahahahahahahahahah!" Zion laughed out loud. "Look at all of them running!"

"Would you just shutup, already," Lea yelled through a video image.

"Come on, can't I have just a little bit of fun?" whined the stubby man. Another virtual image displayed.

"You're losing too much focus," commented Lamarck. Talking sense into Zion was something he tried often but usually failed at. "We must not fail like we did last time."

"And who are you to be so judgemental?! Hmph!" Lamarck sighed, realizing there was no point in trying to argue with him. Zion's decisions were impenetrable.

"Just don't get yourself killed out here," he advised. Both video images disappeared.

_'Who does he think I am?'_ Zion wondered. _'Whatever. I'll show him and Ragnarok what I can do!'_

Zion launched all of his missiles at the base, stirring up the flames and smoke even more. Meanwhile, Zanzer and Rachel were escorting Malcolm out of the base. The president had been injured by a TV set that fell over and broken his ankle, so he was being lifted to safety.

"I knew they'd return," he said. The pain in his dislocated ankle still throbbed. "We should've…been prepared."

"Don't worry, Mr. President," Rachel comforted. "We'll get you out of here and to a safe place."

"But how? There is no safe place," Malcolm mentioned.

"We'll find something," she promised. The three of them watched as several men and women grabbed theweapons they could find in order to attempt to take down the Backdraft zoids. Regardless of what would become of their lives, they were determined to not go down without a fight. In only a matter of seconds, the launch pad started to fall under heavy fire from the pulse beam guns mounted on the Deathpions' tails. Zanzer and Rachel sped up before they and Malcolm would end up dead like many of the others behind them.

* * *

What was left of the area was a spot that would soon become a part of the wasteland itself. Ragnarok was watching from high above in a black Backdraft Whale King. He smirked as he was watching the event unfold. Through the video feed he was receiving, he could see the explosions occurring and even a shot of Malcolm injured. The commander knew this would be a success of unprecedented levels for the Backdraft Group.

He removed his helmet, allowing his navy blue eyes to get a clearer view of the sight in front of him and allowing his pony-tailed hair of the same shade to flow down in the fresh air. As soon as he put it by his side, one of his analysts walked up to him.

"Sir, from what we have been able to detect, all the power sources in the base have been completely destroyed. With this in mind, what are your current orders?"

"Allow me to talk with our pilots down there again," Ragnarok requested. His smile grew wider.

"Understood." The analyst switched the feed from the base to the cockpits of Lea, Lamarck, and Zion.

"That is good enough, Soldiers," he said. "Our mission is a success, and we will be returning to base shortly. But before that, scout the area for any pilots or zoids and kill them."

"As you command," Lamarck honored. Zion and Lea nodded as their words were stolen. The three of them passed on the same order to their groups. They were prepared to finish their mission by the end of the day and return to their own base peacefully.

* * *

The Deathpions trudged through and around the fires, narrowly avoiding being singed. The pilots in the zoids stayed on alert in case anything jumped out at them by surprise. They were nervous because of the solitude of the remains. There was nothing besides the flames making any sounds, and it sent their nerves into overdrive. Their job was to look for any survivors, but all they were finding was demolished zoids, dead bodies, and several fragments of debris. Their attack had completely raised the base.

"There's nothing here," Lea informed. "I think we should just turn back."

"Not so fast," Lamarck retaliated. "We must search every inch and corner in case we didn't take out the Liger Zero."

"Sure, Boss," the woman moaned. She, too, was growing tired of his self-imposed authority. But his orders were usually wise to follow.

"I think I've picked up something," claimed one of the other Backdraft pilots as he analyzed his radar. He forced his zoid to crawl into the ground to track the faint point in the hopes that he would catch it off-guard. However, as soon as he got close to it, the point disappeared. "Huh? Where'd it go?"

Not content, he pulled out from under the ground to strengthen his radar's detection signals. He pushed his zoid forward to see if a little movement would help in relocating the target, and he managed to do so successfully…

…since the target was charging at him full speed from his left side. By the time he saw it, it was too late to for him to bury himself. What soon followed afterwards was a scream and an explosion, and the same fate befell upon another Deathpion that was closeby.

"What's going on here?" demanded Zion.

"We must retreat out," Lamarck ordered. The fact that there was a calculated surprise attack initiated on them was a possibility that hadn't entered his, nor Ragnarok minds before they pushed forward into the rubble. Because of the odds that were now against them, he quickly gave out another order: "The enemy is using stealth tactics. If we go out into the open desert, we'll have the advantage again!"

Everyone heeded the old man's advice and buried into the sand, heading out of the rubble and back outside where they came from. They kept themselves separated so that they would be a more versatile force against their enemy, and so that they couldn't have a prepared plan launched against them.

Each of the pilots checked their radars to try to detect the opposition. They netted no results, which boosted their confidence for the time being. Once they were out far enough, they returned to the surface and looked around to increase their sensors' range. They were still surprised by how well the zoid that had attacked them was able to sneakily move around.

"Where is he?" Lea queried. Her patience was wearing thin, and she was hoping that their attacker would finally come out.

"_Howdy."_

She got her wish, but all she was able to hear was a snarl from behind her before her zoids' tail was sliced off and she saw a white feline zoid glide over her. The white zoid twisted itself ninety degrees as it skidded to a halt, standing by as it waited for the explosion. It went off on the backside of the Deathpion, with the impact throwing Lea's body forward hard enough to knock her unconscious.

"_Alright, who wants a little bit of Liger?"_ Liger Zero called out, scratching its claws against the dirt.

"I think all of them do," Ven mentioned and laughed at the same time. "Why don't you say we show them something?"

"_Thought you would __never ask!"_ the zoid roared in approval. His cry served as a cue for Ven as the teenager pressed his fingers down on the thumb buttons, firing shells from the shock cannon. The duo managed to take out two more Deathpions who were unaware of their location. The ones who were turned towards Liger and fired all they had at the legendary zoid, so Ven shifted the mech's weight to the right and used it to push off, sprinting, all the while evading the beams and missiles.

"Why won't you stay still?!" yelled Zion. All of his shots missed, angering him to the verge of insanity. Meanwhile, Lamarck took his zoid underground in order to attempt a stealth attack. Ven caught sight of the Deathpion digging itself underground and kept it in the back of his mind.

As Ven was about to charge another Deathpion head-on, he leapt to the left to avoid the incoming fire from its tail. He quickly passed the zoid by while shooting its legs with Liger's tail-mounted beam gun. This move effectively disabled its mobility, rendering it useless until it could re-right itself. This same maneuver was repeated several times until there were only a handful of the bombers left. Those that remained visible halted their fire, realizing that repeatedly shooting was futile.

The teenager kept Liger Zero moving, constantly thinking about the scorpion underneath. Then that same zoid became an even bigger threat when the other Deathpions joined it in the sand. Because of their invisibility, Ven analyzed the small bumps the zoids made as they moved through the ground and pushed Liger to follow one of them. The pilot in the tracked Deathpion felt the vibrations above him and tried to throw off his pursuer by turning several times. However, this failed for him due to the Liger Zero's high agility, which kept him in the feline's path.

Once Ven had his target lined-up, he reared up Liger's backside slightly so that he could aim the shock cannons at the Backdraft zoid. Once he was sure of his aim, shell after shell was fired until the target was forced to expose itself. Even then, Ven still didn't let up with his barrage. He could hear the sound of armor being pelted, and as soon as the sand trail stopped advancing, he knew his target was disabled.

"Four more to go."

Suddenly, two of the remaining Backdraft zoids bursted out from the ground behind him. They shot Liger from behind, scathing his hind legs, with the surprised attack having weakened the feline into stopping his run.

"_Bastards!"_

The Deathpions closed in on the immobile zoid with the intention of destroying it with their pincers. Zero sensed the threat, and to counter it, he kicked them with his hind legs with enough force to send them toppling over and freezing their command systems. Now only two more targets remained.

Ven looked around the battlefield to see if he could find anymore bumps, as they would give away the locations of the attackers. After finding nothing, he looked at his radar to see if it could detect them. Just like what had happened when he took down the first Deathpion, his radar spotted them when it was too late. By the time he knew of their position, both of them had used their pincers to sink into Liger's hind legs. They had the deadly intention of dragging the zoid down under with them.

"_Would you guys leave my rear-end alone?!"_

"Great…What am I gonna do now?" Ven said worriedly. He had no idea how to adjust to sudden change in the situation, so he sat there, waiting for his zoid's to give him a solution. This irritated Zero greatly.

"_Use your head? There should be a pair of triggers you can grip somewhere in front of you."_

The bewildered pilot tried looking around in the cockpit for the triggers Liger was talking about and quickly managed to find a pair. They were located slightly above his knees.

"What are they supposed to do, though?"

"_Just pull them and push me forward! It's a bit…hard giving an explanation when…I'm like this."_ Liger Zero was trying with all his might to resist the pulling of the two scorpions.

"It's over, Kid," the old Backdraft pilot announced, "give it up."

"Yeah! What he said," Zion joined in. Ven ignored both of them and did what Liger Zero told him to do. It wasn't until once he performed the action that he knew exactly why Zero had given the order he did. The armor vents on the sides of the zoid's head extended and shone a bright golden color. All four of Liger's claws began to glow the same light, leaving burn marks on the pincers that were holding on to them. When Ven started pushing Liger forward again, the situation reversed, and Lamarck and Zion were being pulled instead. Neither of them could comprehend what was happening. They had conducted research on the Liger Zero before they joined the Backdraft Group, and nothing it was now doing matched up with what they had read. However, despite this, they refused to give up on tugging Liger Zero's legs. They didn't care how powerful it was. In their minds, it was all about seeing it through to the end, for the sake of the success of their mission.

As Ven continued his push, Liger Zero eventually broke off into a slow run. Both of the Deathpions underground were being dragged along, and it only grew worse for them once Ven activated his zoid's ion turbo boosters. The feline gathered momentum and jumped as high in the air as he could, forcing Lamarck and Zion out from their cover and into the air with him. Their zoids were then slammed hard onto the ground once Liger Zero came back down. The feline managed to break free from the severely damaged pincers before he continued to move forward and twisted around, facing the two scorpions that were now stacked on top of each other. His claws and the armor vents were still shining the same golden shade. Looking at the sight in front of him, Ven grinned, thinking about what would happen next.

"You know…" Ven began, "…I've always wanted to do this, even in my dreams." Liger awaited what Ven was going to do next, instantly aware of what he was going to happen. He was glad, because to him, it was an old pastime.

"_Then do it!" _the zoid bursted with confidence.

"Here we go!" Liger Zero once again went into a sprint forward. "Strike…"

Liger Zero ran closer to the Deathpions.

"…Laser…"

The zoid took another leap in the air and veered its right front claw back, preparing to strike. Lamarck and Zion looked for the zoid and noticed it was gone. Growing desperate, they frantically searched around for it when, to their horror, they finally saw it descending upon them, ready to cut through them.

"…CLAW!"

Before anyone from a distance could see it, several limbs were sliced off of the two black zoids. It was only after Liger touched the ground and Ven pushed the triggers back in that the diced tails and pincers of the Deathpions fell off. Another explosion then resulted, with the gold hues emanating from Liger Zero's claws and vents disappearing while the armor returned to its normal arrangement. Liger Zero let out a massive triumphant roar.

"YEAH! WE DID IT," Ven screeched, feeling a wave of relief come over him

"_Haha, yeah, we did…__ And you know, Ven, I gotta say that you're actually pretty good at this," _the zoid complimented. _"How did you ever crash earlier?"_

"Dunno," Ven muttered, momentarily calming down. "I guess flying's not my thing." And for the first time, both of them laughed at the same time.

"_I guess not!"_

Ven laid his head back in his seat, recalling what had just happened and thinking about his future.

"I'll just have to make sure I get a ground zoid in the next few years instead of an airborne one."

"_Get a ground zoid?"_

"Well, if I don't get one then what'll I do? Not pilot a zoid?" Ven queried, confused by the Liger's question.

"_Believe me, Ven, you don't have to get one, or find one, or buy one." _

"Huh?"

"_What I mean is that you've already got one."_

"What? But I haven't gone out and bought any-"

And that was when Ven made sense of the message Liger Zero was trying to send.

"You mean…?"

"_Yup."_

Ven couldn't believe it. He screamed in excitement again, because not only did he now have a zoid of his own, but it was the one he had always dreamed of having, too. At the same time, Liger Zero thought about the decision he was making and decided he needed to put the past aside. Ven was someone he was going to need, and Ven would probably need him too if he was going to end up in more similar situations. But there was something else telling him it was the right decision - he just couldn't pinpoint what that something was. All he knew was that it was a choice that would be a part of him.

A part of his legacy.


	5. Getting to Know

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**Getting to Know**

Zanzer, Malcolm, and Rachel managed to make it about a quarter of a mile away from the destroyed desert base. Once they saw the Liger Zero jump into the fray they picked up the pace – it was quite obvious what was going to ensue shortly. Each of them were awestruck by the zoid's speed and strength, something that was not witnessed during the testing. What shocked them even more, though, was the fact that it didn't eject the pilot.

Now that the fighting was over, the trio stopped so that they could catch their breath. They waited for the Liger Zero to approach them and to receive assistance from its pilot. The pilot spotted them before he moved in closer. They stared up at the massive feline as the cockpit opened, with Malcolm waiting to tell the pilot the rewards he was about to receive. However, he thought about reconsidering what those would be once he saw the pilot stand up and reveal himself. Zanzer and Rachel dropped their jaws since they knew the pilot and didn't think he could defeat an entire group of Deathpions. But it was Rachel who had the more vocal reaction.

"VEN!!!" she screamed, completely overjoyed by the sight of the silver-haired pilot.

"Rachel?!" He was utterly shocked to see her again, especially in a place like this. But seeing her with Zanzer shocked him even more as it made him wonder what she may do since she was with him. "What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you that! This man here-"

Rachel stopped when she saw Zanzer's petrified face. She could tell the man had lied to her just by looking at that expression. There was no way Ven could've gotten from Remma to where he was currently standing within a day's time unless he had a fast zoid, and Zanzer was somehow involved. She stomped to in front of him as she gave a serious and angry stare.

"Alright, Mister," she began, "that's no way to treat a woman!" All the guard felt he could do was back up with his hands slightly raised, all the while blushing with embarrassment. It was a rather amusing sight given his role in the government.

"I…I can explain!" Zanzer whined.

"Then explain to this!" A second later, a hand-shaped red mark was visible on his face as Rachel's hand forced him to look to his right. She dusted her hand off soon after. "Maybe that'll teach you something!" The pain still rang through him agonizingly.

"Jesus, you two just can't keep it down…" Malcolm complained.

"_Tell me about it,"_ Liger growled. No one besides Ven could understand him. He thought Ven was capable of being weird, but seeing Rachel in action changed that. Both he and Ven were curious as to how they would cope with Zanzer, although it seemed as if he currently had something to cope with himself.

"Hey, keep it down, Liger," Ven whispered. "We don't want to frighten them!"

"_Why? Sounds like it would be fun to me!"_

"Is there someone else in there with you, Kid?" Malcolm asked. He saw Ven move his mouth as if he were talking to someone who had not shown themselves yet. Ven saw the confusement in the older man's eyes and gave an answer.

"Nope. I was just talking to my zoid here."

"You were _talking _to _your _zoid?" The president was both confused and slightly insulted. It was his idea to excavate the Liger Zero after all. That and the whole idea of a person whispering to a zoid was alien to him. "That's impossible," he laughed.

"But it's true! He can talk too," said Ven excitedly. The teenager had been talking with Liger Zero so much already that he forgot his ability to communicate with the zoid was exclusive.

"_Ohhhh boy, here we go…"_

"He?" The trio queried.

"Yeah! Listen to him."

"_Erm, Ven. Only you can under-"_

"Did you hear that?!" Liger Zero was about to tell the teenager that he was likely the only one who could understand what the zoid was saying. However, Ven wouldn't let him finish. Malcolm chuckled at the pilot's words.

"Yes, and I'm sure it can sing as well," he threw back. "Anyway, I'm sure you can see that we need help right now. So we'll need you to allow us into the zoid's cockpit so we can receive assistance from the military."

Liger Zero did not like what Malcolm was saying one bit. The legendary zoid trotted backwards a few steps, growling loudly to show his discontent. The sudden movements caused Ven to stumble and land back in the cockpit's seat.

"_Wait, wait, waaaiiit, waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait! Who said I was okay with this?"_

The sound was loud enough to force the trio on the sand to cover their ears. The president then remembered that Liger Zero is an Ultimate X and realized that he probably didn't meet the zoid's pilot requirements.

"Come on, Liger," the pilot muttered. "This is Planet Zi's president we're in front of! If we piss him off, who knows what kind of trouble we could get in!"

"_Yeah, well I wasn't built for carrying four people!"_

"It's possible if we cram."

"_Oh sure. That'll look REAL professional on my part, won't it?"_

"We don't really have a choice right now. Besides, I don't think they plan on riding around in here anyway."

"_Well ask them just to make sure,"_ Liger Zero demanded. Ven did as the zoid instructed and waited for Malcolm to move his hands back down before he spoke up. The old man groaned as the shock pain in his ears from the zoid's sudden reaction gradually disappeared.

"Hey! Ummmm… Mr. President!" Ven yelled out. Malcolm had a harder time hearing the teenager since he wasn't paying much attention, but he picked up the words.

"Gargh… Can't you keep that zoid under control?!" he whined. He was wondering how he was going to live with this zoid if it continued to be as vocal as it just was. "Anyway, what?"

"I was just wondering if you guys needed a ride anywhere," Ven pondered.

"_Way to sound so casual. It's not like I mind or anything…" _Liger mentioned sarcastically.

"No," Malcolm replied. "Getting anywhere on land from here would take too long, which is why I need to make a call. Now lower the zoid's cockpit. That is a direct order from the president!" Before the adolescent would comply, he looked down at the controls and spoke to Liger again.

"Does that make you happy?" Ven asked in a slightly annoyed tone.

"_Much." _The feline manually lowered its head. Rachel and Zanzer also removed their hands from their ears to help Malcolm get to the cockpit. They put his arms around their necks and moved quickly as Ven hopped out on to the desert sand. Malcolm told the argumentative duo to rest him inside the cockpit when they were close enough. Once he was placed down, he pressed multiple keys that would allow him to contact the secretary of defense.

"_This feels fuzzy,"_ Liger Zero commented. Everyone else besides Ven ignored the zoid's reaction as the teen giggled under his breath. A low buzzing sound began to resonate as a strong radio signal was being searched for. _"Oh hell, you better not be killing me!" _The buzzing soon dissipated.

"Come in. This is the president speaking," Malcolm's voice boomed. "I repeat, come in!"

"I can hear you loud and clear, Mr. President," responded the secretary of defense. "Are you alright out there?"

"Yes, I am fine, though not perfectly. I will, however, need another Whale King to be sent over to this base since the other Whale King was destroyed." Malcolm and the others looked at the base and could see the red Whale King engulfed in flames. It was a horrible sight, representing everything that was just recently lost. It was also the old man's most favorite Whale King as it had several entertainment features within it not found in other zoids of its type.

"We shall comply. However, it will take some time. Will you be able to hold out?"

"Yes. After all, I'm communicating through the use of the Liger Zero."

"Very well," the secretary acknowledged before the signal disappeared. Malcolm made a hand gesture for Zanzer and Rachel to take him back out. The young man and woman approached him once again and lifted him out and onto the ground. His slow collision with the sandy surface caused his ankle to sear with pain again for a few seconds.

"So how long are we going to have to wait?" Ven asked. Zanzer turned to look at Ven and gave him a scornful stare.

"You'll just have to wait and find out, you little runt," the guard replied agitatedly. The answer left Ven extremely annoyed, expecially given his past treatment by the man. Rachel and Malcolm were also taken aback by the negative response.

"Hey, you'd be dead if it wasn't for me, you know!" The head of global security simply chose to ignore Ven's protesting voice and looked back in front of himself. But that wasn't going to keep Rachel from giving him a mouthful.

"What's wrong with you, Zanzer? First you lie to me, and then you shove a load of disrespect at him." Her words made him grimace.

"Look, Rachel…" he mumbled, "…he's a trespasser who was sentenced to jail and broke out to steal a zoid. Then I followed him here and found him before locking him up." The woman gasped and turned to look at Ven. The teenager nodded to confirm that what Zanzer said was true, all the while displaying the same emotions as before. There was still something she didn't understand however, because all the cells had been occupied.

"But where did you lock him up?" she asked, looking back at Zanzer's face. This was the question Zanzer was hoping wouldn't cross her mind, but there was no avoiding it now.

"Since all the cells were taken, I had to lock him up in the…well…" he stuttered. Just because he had to tell the truth, that didn't make speaking it any easier. "…in the hangar."

"In the hangar?!" the lieutenant yelled. "Don't you know how dangerous that is!"

"He locked me up with Liger Zero as well," Ven tossed in.

"What else was I supposed to do?! Glue him to me?"

"At least he wouldn't have had a chance of dying!"

"Both of you shutup, godamnit," Malcolm ordered. "An old man like me quickly grows tired of constant whining and arguing. If you two don't cut it out, I may have to relieve both of you of your positions!"

The two of them gulped but still looked at each other. The president sighed as he wondered what kind of chemistry may boil between them. But he pushed away that thought when the pupils in his eyes trudged downwards to look at Ven and Liger Zero. The older man had questions of his own.

"As for you over there," Malcolm spoke, "exactly why did you trespass?" That question reminded Ven of why he was even here in the first place: he had wanted to ask the president what had been going on.

"It was because of my curiosity," the young pilot replied. "I heard that you were leaving earlier today when I was in Remma, and I wanted to know what was happening, so I snuck by the security. Then everything else afterwards resulted in me ending up here."

"I see… So you snuck by Zanzer's forces, huh?" Malcolm eyed the guard's face as the younger man grew anxious. Lectures from the president were always unpleasant. "In that case, he too has a lesson to be taught as well."

"So what do you want me to do with that kid then, Mr. President?" The head of global security asked. He was slightly panicking in the same way he had been earlier when he spoke with Rachel in the testing room. Malcolm stayed silent for a few seconds before taking a breath and giving a short speech.

"I don't support the actions of those who break the law, so therefore he will be punished in some way. But at the same time, I had induced an enormous amount interest within our population, so in a way I cannot blame him for his actions. Plus, he managed to make the Liger Zero useful to us and saved us from being killed. Because of this, I'll determine what happens to him later on. As for you, Zanzer, there's nothing you need to worry about, other than what I determine for you."

"_How nice to be referred to as 'useful,'" _Liger Zero moaned. Rachel noticed no one else had commented on the zoid's attitude, so she became the first.

"I don't recall the Liger being this vocal," she peeped in. Ven laughed as he rubbed the back of his head.

"He can be like that," Ven mentioned.

"_She has no idea…"_

* * *

Ragnarok was in disbelief at the sight he had just witnessed. The commander watched his Deathpions search through the ruined base before getting caught in a battle with the legendary Liger Zero. In only minutes the entire squad he sent was completely wiped out, barely managing to even scratch their opponent.

"It's not possible," He mumbled. "There's no way a zoid could be equipped with that kind of close-ranged power!"

Ragnarok fell back in a chair, still staring at the video feed. Through it he could now see the destroyed Deathpions and the Liger Zero near four people. He zoomed in on the small group and noticed Malcolm's injured figure. The president's current health made him smirk, knowing that at least something else positive happened amidst the foray.

"Well, Sir, it was _the_ Liger Zero down there," mentioned the analyst from before. "Don't forget what it accomplished a long time ago."

"I know, I know," Ragnarok moaned. "However, we should've been better informed of its capabilities. Perhaps then we could've destroyed it."

"There's still this Whale King here that can combat it."

"No." The word that came out of the commander's mouth shocked the analyst. Here was another opportunity for them to destroy the Liger Zero and Ragnarok had decidedly wasted it.

"What? Are you sure about this?"

"'You kidding me?! There's no chance in hell of us taking out a zoid that fast and agile before its pilot can alert reinforcements of our presence. If we are caught as we are, we'll be shot down, and then it won't matter if that zoid is destroyed. All our other Whale Kings are under maintenance, so the rest of us would be sitting ducks at our base if it ever gets found while we are being forced to tell the Commission where it is." Ragnarok slammed his fist as all he just said swam through his mind again and again. The heads of the Backdraft Group were counting on him to make sure the Liger Zero was destroyed in this mission, and failure would create several complications for them and himself. Though he knew he'd have to retreat once more if they were ever to have a good shot at being victorious now.

"I see… But what about our pilots down there?"

"Them?" Ragnarok said vocally, as if he was wondering if the analyst was serious. "Like I said, we can't make ourselves noticeable, and we would if we did anything about them. Yes, we risk having them get captured and then telling the president where our base is, but at least we'll have this Whale King ready to defend it. Besides, they've gotten out of plenty of tight situations in the past. I'm sure they can do it again."

The analyst just stood there for a few seconds before taking his leave, having nothing else to say.

"By the way, before you go anywhere, get me a latte. I need something to make my day better."

"As you wish."

Not long after, the Backdraft Whale King left the area. Meanwhile, the Whale King Malcolm had requested was making its way to the Liger Zero.

* * *

Ven gasped as he watched a blue airborne zoid shaped like a whale descend only yards away from him. The wind force from the jets forced him to shield his eyes as specs of sand were blown everywhere. Everybody else was doing the same until things calmed down. Once it touched the ground, its maw slowly opened as the secretary of defense and several armed men walked out. They rushed as soon as they saw Malcolm's condition.

"Men, I'll need you to carry the president into the Whale King for me. I'll speak with the others here to see what exactly happened," the secretary informed. He was a brown-haired middle-aged man who wore military attire with several badges pinned on. They represented all of his achievements he made while working for Zi's government.

The men complied as they stowed their guns away before picking up Malcolm. Ven, Zanzer, and Rachel watched as he grunted while being picked up, the injury still showing traces of being new.

"Now, I must speak with you three."

The secretary eyed Ven conspicuously. A teenager in the mighty presence of the president, the head of global security, and the head lieutenant of the now-destroyed base? It was utter nonsense to him.

"Zanzer, I respect your position. I am quite sure you know of the reasoning behind this teenager's presense here. Care to explain?" The guard was wondering when the humiliation for himself was going to end. Letting Rachel and Malcolm know what had happened was bad enough for him. If the secretary of defense knew, word would spread even quicker about the scenario he just went through. As a result, all he did was just look down and mutter. "No? Then I assume Miss Rachel would like to?"

"Well, Sir, he is the pilot of the Liger Zero," the lieutenant replied. He was seemingly appalled by her words as he continued to look at Ven. The brown eyes made Ven feel uncomfortable while Rachel's response also made him feel a little heroic. The secretary could sense the disbalance within the adolescent's mind and came to a conclusion as to what Rachel said.

"That doesn't seem quite possible to me."

"It is the truth."

He looked away from Ven and met Zanzer and Rachel eye-to-eye. Ven sighed quietly now that the intimidating figure was no longer staring at him.

"I guess for now I'll just have to take your word, then. Things will be put to the test later." The teenager suddenly felt the need to jump in, especially after what he and Liger Zero had just done.

"Haven't I already proved myself?" He pointed his finger at all the destroyed Deathpions. Liger Zero snarled in agreement. The three adults saw what he was pointing at and smirked.

"It's a great sight," the secretary reassured, "but any pilot of a solid caliber could've done that with the Liger Zero under their control."

"_If only he knew how strict I am about choosing my pilots…" _Just like Zanzer and Rachel were earlier, the secretary of defense was shocked as to how the zoid could respond in the dynamic way it does.

"And I take it this zoid disagrees, hm?" His response was another sound from the zoid's mouth.

"The Liger wouldn't lie to you, Mr.," Ven reassured. The middle-aged man looked at Liger Zero and his pilot with a straight expression, analyzing the characteristics of both of them.

"I see," he said grimly. "There will be more time to discuss things inside. We have space in our Whale King's hangar where this zoid may be stored."

The brown-haired man went back the way he came and ordered the group to follow him. Rachel and Zanzer walked while Ven got back in Liger Zero, the cockpit automatically closing.

"_Seems like everyone around here is nasty or violent."_

"That's our government for you," the teenager laughed. He directed the Liger Zero into the transport zoid's mouth, careful as to not crush the guard and the lieutenant. Though he did of course want to get back at Zanzer in some way…

* * *

Several men and women had pointed Ven in the direction of the hangar. He and Liger Zero quickly found it within minutes as they admired some of the zoid's inner workings. Liger Zero had been in a Whale King before when he was stolen from the Blitz team years ago, but it still amazed him to be in such a fanciful place. Although to him being in a desert for so long makes almost any place that's different seem pretty. Similarly, Ven was reminded of when he entered the base earlier before the attack: he stared at pretty much everything momentarily.

The two of them found an unoccupied spot in the large metallic room where Ven parked the feline. He left the zoid parallel to a Gun Sniper on his left and a Dibison on his right. The pilot manually opened the cockpit and climbed out, attempting to handle his way down the zoid's parts.

"_Hey, don't try anything that you're not ready for,"_ Liger Zero suggested. He proceeded to lower himself so that Ven could easily reach the surface.

"Thanks," Ven grunted before his shoes made a clanging sound against the floor. "I'll have to move on to jumping out sometime later."

"_Just don't kill yourself while you're at it."_

"Who, me? Please, of all people, _me_?"

"_Yeah you of all people. I mean, you almost died by simply looking at me earlier."_ Ven shrugged his shoulders.

"All I did was faint. It's something everyone does here and there."

"_I've never heard of a person fainting while looking at a zoid."_ Liger knew full well why Ven fainted earlier, but things were starting to get fun.

"Oh yeah, and I've heard a mouse talk before," Ven retorted sarcastically. He was laughing at the same time, and his zoid was glad to know that he had brightened up the adolescent's bad day somewhat.

"_Tsk… Just go before things get even worse. The last thing I need is for you to be imprisoned for forever."_

Ven smiled before rushing out of the hangar. He didn't want to keep the others waiting given the way some of them seem to probably handle things. And whatever his punishment may be, he was hoping that it wouldn't be something too severe.

* * *

Liger Zero analyzed the room anxiously. As powerful as he was, a strong surprise move could probably take him out. The room remained dark and quiet.

That was until he heard a groaning from his right.

"_Damn, you two know how to ruin some beauty sleep," _snorted what must have been another zoid. The feline looked to its right and saw the Dibison making slight wiggle movements. It was the first time he had communicated with another zoid in a long, long time. Was it possible that another organoid _still_ actually existed and bonded with a zoid?

"_What the… You're alive?"_ Liger asked shockingly. _"What organoid are you in there?"_

"_Organoid? I'm no organoid. I'm my own zoid called BEEK," _The Dibison announced proudly. The name seemed very familiar to the white and black zoid as he continued to think about the name. He knew he had heard it somewhere before, but he just couldn't recall the exact memory. _"Speaking of organoids, it's been a long time since I last heard about those."_

"_We're not as common as we used to be," _Liger implied.

"_Figures. Wait a second… You mean to tell me you're an organoid?"_

"_Well, yeah."_

"_Then what are you doing staying in there? Why not just wander around?" _The answer was something Liger Zero thought BEEK likely wouldn't believe, but he gave it a shot.

"_It's because I'm permanently bonded."_

"_Permanently bonded? Hmmm…"_ BEEK was also trying to recall vague memories. They in particular related to when he came across a silver organoid centuries ago. _"Sounds like I've heard that somewhere before. 'Makes me feel like I'm getting old."_

"_Wait, can you remember where you heard it?" _The fact that this zoid had a familiar name and had heard something about permanent bonding made the legend wonder if the two of them had met before.

"_It's been four hundred years, so not really."_ Hearing 'four hundred years' was all Liger needed to realize that he _had _actually encountered BEEK before. He recalled even working with him a few times as well. _"Is there a reason for asking?"_

"_You see…I'm about four hundred years old as well."_

"You_?!_ _Four hundred years old?! No way, you seem far too young to be-"_

The Dibison stopped himself when he thought about what the feline zoid just told him. The bison mentally put things together as well and was in complete disbelief at the conclusion he came to. He didn't think it was possible, but felt the need to confirm things as well.

"_Hold on…"_

There was a short silence between the two.

"…_Zeke?!"_

"_That's me alright."_

This time there was a long silence.

"_So,"_ BEEK began, _"you truly have managed to stand the test of time, eh?"_

"_At least so far, yes."_

"_Lucky you. You've got something good to brag about. All I've got to shove is that I'm one of the few zoids to stare down the Death Stinger's Charged Particle Cannon."_

"_You're about as old as me, so couldn't you say you've stood the test of time?"_ Liger Zero didn't want his old companion to feel down.

"_No one expected it or prophesized it. T'would have no mental effect if you said it about me."_

"_Hey don't say that," _Liger grumbled out, trying to cheer the bison up.

"_Don't bother – you know it's true," _BEEK retorted. _"It also doesn't help that my current pilot is an annoyance like my last one."_

"_I take it you're talking about Thomas? That guy was a sucker for some weird things."_

"_It's even worse that it's the same with this new guy," _the Dibison moaned.

"_Well what's he a sucker for?"_

"_Too many things…"_

* * *

Just like Zanzer had before, Ven readied his appearance so that he could supply the president with as positive of an image as possible. Doing so in the clothing he was wearing wasn't the easiest thing, but it was better than nothing.

He quickly found himself standing in front of the door to the bridge before it opened. He was greeted by the sight of Zanzer, Rachel, Malcolm (who was sitting on a wheelchair), the secretary of defense, and several other busy men and women. Zanzer proved to currently be a rather humorous sight since Rachel had apparently gotten on his case even more apparently with numerous other red marks on his face. The door shut almost immediately after he stepped in.

"Right on time," Malcolm said positively. "However, we will need to wait for our other informed witness before we may begin." The young pilot was confused as he was trying to think about who else was with them that knew about what recently happened. Though it turned out the referred person had not been with them earlier. He was only going to arrive due to being recruited into the Whale King for security purposes.

The door opened once again to reveal a panting blue-haired man with his hands on his knees. What everyone else saw was something they've seen regularly since Thomas was always one for being late.

"You barely made it," Rachel sorely muttered, looking away with her eyes closed. Thomas responded to the feminine voice.

"I'm sorry! At least I wasn't late this time, alright," the younger guard assured. "Besides, I was busy helping someone fine-tune their Rainbow Jerk."

"Yes, and that is soooo important, I'm sure," the president grumbled sarcastically. He quickly cleared his throat before he spoke again. "Anyway, now we may discuss our important matters."

Or so he thought. Nobody had told Thomas about whom the 'prisoner' that was going to be with them was, and he was one to have sudden reactions. Once he had lifted his head to look at Ven, all kinds of negative thoughts started to boil in his mind. All those thoughts made themselves visible as he raised himself to full height and pointed his index finger at the teenager. The tip of it seemed to shimmer with bright light as his face turned to rage. (anime-style angry face and eyes)

"Y-y-y-y…y-y-y-y…y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-YOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!"

Ven turned his head to see what was wrong with the man behind him and instantly felt pale. An instant later, Thomas dove at him, attempting to take him down. There was nothing Ven could do as he waited for the contact. However, it never came.

The adolescent opened his eyes again to see if anything happened and saw that a sledgehammer had connected with the middle of Thomas's body, the person holding the hammer being none other than Rachel. She had grabbed it from the wall and quickly slammed it onto the blue-haired man before he could cause any harm to Ven. A loud thud sounded throughout the room as Thomas hit the solid ground face-down.

"You were right, Zanzer," Rachel groaned with a contorted expression, "He still is his same old self." She dropped the sledgehammer, the heavy weight causing the clumsy guard to moan in pain. Everyone else was shocked as they stared at her while she walked back to her position.

"Wow," Ven mumbled. The lieutenant was always a peaceful and nonviolent person when she watched over him, so seeing her demonstrate such power and aggression was a shocker. Both the secretary and the president were slightly taken back as well, knowing that this was one of their employees proving to be sinister. Zanzer was only amazed by how fast she moved.

"What was…that…?" Thomas snuck out under his breath. He was ignored, however, as the president looked at him irrelevantly.

"_Now_ we may discuss," Malcolm boomed. Almost instantly, various voices started chattering throughout the room, disturbing the pilots controlling the Whale King. The zoid was deploying Gustavs that were assigned to salvaging the Deathpions. "Okay, calm down. Let's first figure out whose case we're going to discuss first."

"So this is basically court?" Ven queried. He was hoping the answer would be 'no' since he had already attended court earlier in the day. Going through another hour of listening to older people talk professionly about whatever may happen to himself or another was something he thought would leave him brain dead.

"Sort of. Just not as irritating and long," the man in the wheelchair replied. He smiled, confident that Ven wasn't going to enjoy things one bit.

"Swell," the teenager moaned. Zanzer and Rachel were thinking the exact same thing. In Zanzer's case, it didn't help at all that he was going to be in the presence of 'this annoying kid' for even longer, though he knew he would have to tough it out.

"Anyway, we shall start with you, Zanzer." The head of global security gulped, taking note of the older man's tone – it told him he wasn't going to like the president's words. "I gave you a big promotion and you thank me by having an intruder waltz around in government territory."

"I apologize deeply, Sir, but there wasn't much I could do," the blonde-haired guard spoke up, staring at Ven narrowly. "He is a very sneaky one, I'll admit."

"Then tell me, my head of global security, what you could have done?" The question made Zanzer look back at when he went to go check on Ven when the teenager had been locked up in a cell at the base in Remma. The guard remembered he had found the key for the cell's lock on the ground, which Ven must have used to escape.

"Well…-" Zanzer breathed in, closing his eyes. "I should've been tighter on my actions."

"And why weren't you?" The president of Zi was the kind of man who would not settle for short answers. This was visually displayed by him resting his chin on the top on his hand as his elbow laid on the armrest.

"I wish I could give you a good answer to that, Mr. President. But sadly, I'm speechless."

"I see…"

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Well, Zanzer, this was your first day of holding such a strong duty…"

Zanzer looked at Malcolm with a piercing gaze, hoping that things actually wouldn't turn out too bad for himself.

"…so I'll be nice for now."

Zanzer's face grew delighted by the president's words, a huge feeling of relief sweeping by him.

"But before you get too excited," Malcolm boomed again, raising a finger, "just know that there is no room for error in the future. If an error does occur, the problems could be substantial."

"I understand," Zanzer acknowledged.

"You'd better…" Malcolm shifted his gaze to Ven. "Then there is you."

This time it was Ven's turn to gulp, never having received criticism from the figure highest in authority.

"Going off of word that has been spread around here, it would seem to one that you really are the Liger Zero's official pilot. But to me, it all seems out-of-this-world. Our test pilots, each of which I assume have more piloting experience than you, were forced out of the zoid's cockpit by the zoid itself, yet it allowed you to stay for some reason. Elaborate, please." Everyone was now looking at Ven as they awaited his words. It was hard for Ven since he wasn't used to speaking in front of a group of higher-ups, despite the fact that his family is good friends with one of them.

"Well, you see, Sir, he told me-"

"Enough with this addressing of the Liger as such an individual! I know it has its own intellectual nature, but zoids are genderless by science and cannot speak."

"I'm not lying! I've heard _him _speak and I've spoken back." Malcolm rolled his eyes.

"We've heard 'him' speak, too, and all of 'his' 'words' sound similar for a strange reason," the older man joked sarcastically. "However, just move on."

A person whom Ven had once looked up to was proving to be irritating due to being disbelieving of him. While he faced a similar scenario with Liger Zero, putting up with it again for the second time in one day was not pleasant and made him wonder if there was something he had to reconsider about his life. And since the truthful answer wasn't something that was going to get him anywhere good, he had to give a more vague answer.

"All I can say then is that 'it' and I found out we can relate to each other." That was the first thing anyone had said all day that got Malcolm to raise an eyebrow.

"Interesting. I take it this happened in that room where we stored the Liger Zero? Because I'm assuming that's where you must've been locked up."

"Yes."

"And how did it all happen?" Ven took a deep breath and tried to relax his composure while looking at the ground.

"You wouldn't believe me if I answered." The answer caused the president to smirk and laugh.

"You're probably right," was all Malcolm said. Everything Ven said didn't really strike Zanzer as completely off, however. The teenager was able to get around several security zoids and guards, so he clearly must have some qualities that others don't have. The older guard figured deeper interaction capabilities with a zoid must be another that they can't quite grasp. Either way, it didn't leave him the least bit amused. "Because of that, I'll need John here, my secretary of defense, to issue you an appointment with a mental doctor."

Those words were enough to get Ven to suddenly jolt his head back upwards facing Malcolm. He couldn't believe the situation he faced and felt like loudly protesting. Though before he could react, John stepped forward and forced one of his large hands in front of Ven's mouth, effectively silencing the young pilot.

"Afterwards, I will assign you to community service hours as soon as we return to Remma."

John grabbed Ven by the arm with his other hand and pulled him out of the room, evading Thomas's figure on the floor. Meanwhile, Ven kept his eyes deadlocked on Malcolm. Both the brown-haired man and silver-haired boy disappeared before long. Rachel suddenly grew concerned for whatever Ven may end up going through.

"May I…" Rachel slowly muttered, "…go with them, Mr. President?"

"If you so much as wish to. Though why are you interested?"

"I used to babysit him when he was little, so I'm curious to see how much he's really changed."

"So you know him personally, huh?" This proved to be interesting to the president since he now knew that there was someone who understood some of the kid's background. It would be worth discussing sometime later since he was growing exhausted. "Whatever, just go on." Rachel proceeded towards the door until she heard loud groaning coming from the floor. She looked down to see that Thomas was trying to pick himself up off the floor.

"Was it…something I said?" he murmured out. The blue-haired guard continued to stand up slowly, groaning from the pain in his back as the sledgehammer slid down.

"Oh no, Sweet Thomas, not at all," The lieutenant delicately lied. "Now move!"

"Then why did yo-"

His eyes met Rachel's body. No, to him, it was her _beautiful and firm_ body. The sight before him put him into a trance as his eyes dimmed and his mouth remained open. The two of them had met years ago, but he didn't recall her looking anywhere near as appealing as she currently was.

"Because you were rude, that's why," Rachel sharply informed. "I need to go now."

"Yes…my lady…go right ahead…" He was almost salivating as he side-stepped and allowed Rachel to exit. The door opened and closed once Rachel left.

"Pfffft…_your _lady?" she mumbled. "Some guys these days need to learn manners!"

But Zanzer and Malcolm had a different reaction, and that was sighing. (sweatdrops)

"By the way, Thomas, weren't you with Zanzer earlier today?" queried Malcolm. Thomas remained stiff in his trance. "Oh Thooooomas!"

"Huh? Wait, wh-wh-what?" The less mature guard snapped out of it. "Yes, I was."

"In that case, you too will receive punishment. I'll have Zanzer, who is of course your new boss, cut your pay in half temporarily." Thomas's jaw dropped.

"But that isn't fair! What else was I supposed to do?!" he complained.

"You should've been more alert."

"More alert?!"

Zanzer jumped into the fray, "You do NOT complain in front of the president in such a way." The head of global security grinned as he looked at Thomas. Having influence over his friend's pay was another bragging right that he felt like flashing, and Thomas knew there was no winning. He drooped his shoulders

"Man…"

* * *

Gustavs strolled out of the Whale King's mouth by the numbers, each toting the same equipment that was used to excavate Liger Zero. Lea, Zion, Lamarck, and the rest of the Backdraft pilots were still unconscious from the previous battle, so placing the zoids on the towing platforms proved to be easy. But no one realized that everything that had happened recently was being watched.

On a cliffside stood a figure with long white hair who wore a zoid pilot's vest. The man was clapping at the sight in front of him.

"Well done, Ven," The pilot saluted. The sunlight shone on his face, revealing himself to be Ken. "You truly are fit for your role." Ken turned around and slowly walked away from the horizon in a way that would make others suspicious if they saw him. "And so are you, Zeke." The dark figure seemingly disappeared into the wind.

* * *

The rest of the day went by swiftfully. The Whale King was only an hour and a half away from the launch pad in Remma, where hundreds of news reporters flocked to in order to learn more about what happened at the desert base. News about the attack spread around the city and the rest of the world quickly and proceeded to trigger a massive and united uproar against the Backdraft Group. Some regions of Zi were even thinking about sending a war declaration to them.

But there was also some good news for those regions of Zi, however. The Deathpions and pilots that led the attack were successfully captured and are up for being held accountable for telling whatever they know about the Backdraft Group, though their honesty would likely be questionable.

Meanwhile, Ven had finished his appointment with the mental doctor who informed Planet Zi's president that the teenager was fine. Malcolm had a hard time believing the man's words but knew that there must be more to whatever 'truth' Ven had told him. Rachel felt the same way due to having experiences with the teenager. There were times whenever she spoke to him that she knew there had to be more…

The president dismissed Ven before he could say anything else that may put the older man in a worse mood. Having nothing else to do, he returned to where he parked Liger Zero. Perhaps being with his zoid may make things better.

"_So how did it go?" _the white and black zoid asked curiously. He could sense something was wrong with his pilot by the way he just trudged in slowly while hanging his head low.

"Not good. Not good at all…" Ven groaned. It became obvious by his tone that he was clearly much more depressed than he sounded.

"_That bad, huh? What did they actually say?"_

"The president is assigning me community service hours when we get back. He also seems to think that I'm mentally ill." That comment floored Liger Zero.

"_Mentally ill?! What did you ever do to get him to think that?"_

"Well I told him I can talk to you and that you can also talk. Apparently, that he was all he needed to hear in order to think that I'm crazy." This was another moment where Liger would've put his paw on his head if he could.

"_Ven… Look, don't you remember?"_

"Remember what?"

"_That you're the only one who can understand what I'm saying?"_

"_You mean what we're saying,"_ BEEK jumped in. The sound of another voice startled Ven as he looked around for the source of it. Not too long later, he noticed a Dibison stepping into the light.

"_Oh yeah, I forgot about you."_

"_Obviously."_

"Wait a second, who is this?" Ven was now more confused than ever to be hearing a second zoid speak, or at least that's what it sounded like to him.

"_He's an old companion of mine. His name's BEEK."_

"He's a beak?"

"_No, my _name _is BEEK! That's two e's!" _BEEK retorted. Having someone not understand his name was considered offensive by his standards. That, plus he took pride in his very uncommon name.

"Hmmm… That's definitely a weird name," Ven commented, striking a negative chord within the Dibison.

"_Yeah, well- HEY!!! It's not weird! It's what you would call original!!"_

"_Just chill out, alright," _Liger demanded._ "He's new to some of these things."_ Harsh words towards Ven were somethings he wouldn't tolerate very well considering what happened to his first two pilots.

"_Doesn't mean I like it one bit,"_ BEEK complained. In the feline zoid's mind, it seemed as if the phrase 'like pilot, like zoid' applied to BEEK. But he didn't want to bring that up since that would make the bison zoid moan even more.

"_Too bad,"_ he spat back. _"Anyway, Ven, just don't forget that. You'll probably get yourself into even more embarrassing situations if you do."_

"Fine, fine…" Ven didn't like that he was going to have to keep a secret if he didn't want to look weird, especially if he ever gets in front of the press. Seemingly making a joke out of himself in front of them would tarnish his image among his peers. "Anyway, the president didn't bust that other guy with the attitude."

"_So he's just waltzing around easily? Jeez, you people have some weird politicians around here."_

"Was it any different a long time ago?"

"_Now that I think about it…no, not really,"_ Liger growled weakly.

"_Some of our rulers were complete assholes," _BEEK mentioned. _"I think I heard one of them tried to kill everyone in the world."_

"_He did. I encountered him before." _Liger Zero was regretfully reminiscing his first battle with the Deathsaurer. The entire city was in flames and was one of the first truly horrible sights he ever saw.

"Who are you guys talking about?" Most of what Ven had learned about in his classes covered recent history and not so much whatever happened centuries ago, so he was completely lost as to what the two zoids were mentioning.

"_We're talking about a past ruler named Prozen,"_ Ven's zoid referred. _"He was a sick man who thought he was above everyone else."_

"Really? Then it's strange that I've never heard of him."

"_Indeed,"_ the bison said. _"Times and priorities have changed, and they keep on changing. Kind of like how repairing me all those years ago was a priority and then I became nothing."_

"Well you're clearly not 'nothing' if you're here." The government and Zoid Battle Commission only take in zoids that respond well to being controlled and can work well with whatever advantages they're equipped with. BEEK's advantage is his firepower, with the strength of his Megalo Max being comparable to that of a Charged Particle Cannon.

"_I meant that I was temporarily nothing."_

Ven walked over to Liger Zero and asked for him to lower his cockpit again. The zoid did as he was requested to do and opened the hatch.

"_Do you need something in here?"_

"No," Ven answered back as he climbed inside. The young pilot kicked back to relax himself. "It's just today's been a long day for me."

"_So my cockpit is now a bedroom, huh?"_

"Yeah, basically." He manually shut the hatch down again as he closed his eyes, entering a deep slumber. It only took a few minutes for him to fall asleep due to being tired from running and fighting all day. BEEK laughed quietly at Zero's acceptance of the teenager.

"_Seems like he's another 'Van' to you," _the Dibison remarked slyly.

"_That's more of a good thing, really. Being with someone I can easily relate to will make things a lot easier."_

"_Not in my case."_

"_You're just the unlucky one."_

"_I must be."_

There was a momentary silence between the two zoids before they decided they might as well also get some sleep.

"_Anyway, it's about time I make up for my shut-eye that you killed."_ BEEK was clearly still irritated by being woken up earlier.

"_Sorry about that,"_ the feline apologized. _"There wasn't much I could do."_

"_Sure…"_

In seemingly no time, another silence in the hangar started that would last for the next hour or so.


	6. Plans and Strikes Part 1

**Author's Note:** It's been a long time since I updated this story. I've missed being able to post anything, and it's because I've had more things to deal with during these past few months than I did during the Summer. They're things like homework and other school-related stuff, and I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer. So yes, this chapter is a bit shorter than the previous ones.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**Plans and Strikes Part 1**

Ragnarok was standing in his quarters in the Backdraft Whale King, staring out at the nighttime landscape. All it had taken was an hour for darkness to completely take over Zi, making it dangerous to linger around all alone. But that wasn't what was on the commander's mind right now as he continued to think about what he was going to have to tell the heads of the organization.

_This is just great. Complete success today would've proved my ultimate excellence to the Backdraft Group. Now I've got nothing._

He soon noticed structures in the distance with the architecture of Backdraft construction. This consisted of sleek metal that had patterned lining running across the sides and the top. He was close to having to spread the news to all the other members of the Backdraft council, news of which they would likely dishearten with great value. Ragnarok knew this and the thoughts made him feel grim.

The commander left his quarters with a dark expression as he walked down the halls and to the bridge. He had subordinates awaiting his words on their next action.

"We'll be touching ground shortly, Commander," a soldier informed as Ragnarok passed him by. "We suggest you ready yourself for any turbulence."

"I'm always prepared for any such problems," Ragnarok stated lowly.

* * *

There was much shaking in the large room as Ven, BEEK, and Liger Zero were woken up by the landing of the Whale King. Ven rubbed his eyes and yawned, trying to summon whatever energy he could since he already knew that the rest of the night was going to be full of people storming around him. Liger Zero, however, didn't know what to expect due to being new to the era.

"_Uuuugggghhhhh… Great, again! This happens to me again!!" _BEEK groaned. Liger Zero echoed BEEK'S emotions as he slowly came to and righted himself on his legs.

"_Well at least it felt nice," _the hybrid commented. _"Especially after being excavated, played around with by mechanics, and getting in a fight."_

"_You have no idea what 'nice' is until you've slept for two days straight!"_

"_I've slept for decades straight, so come again."_

"Please…don't start arguing," the young pilot requested as he rested his arms. "Things were already annoying enough for me earlier."

"_Yes, Boss…" _the Dibison growled sarcastically.

"_Anyway, we should be getting ourselves ready if we have to get out," _Zero informed.

"I know I have to, though I don't know about you guys."

"_Your president excavated me, so I assume that I at least have to as well."_

Ven adjusted his position in the feline zoid so that he could grip the controls comfortably. He stayed still and waited for any directions to come from one of the crewmembers. Sure, it would've been fun to bust out of the Whale King forcefully, though he knew very well that the president would be on his case instantly and send whatever forces were at his disposal. Liger Zero is a powerful zoid, but he can't single-handedly take on an army.

After not too long, the trio got the cue they were waiting for as a masculine voice spoke over the intercom.

"The Liger Zero's pilot, we request that you ready yourself for deportation from the Whale King in approximately five minutes. Failure to do so will likely result in an accidental injury."

"Please…" moaned Ven, "They act as if I don't know there's a safety harness in here."

"_I'm pretty sure they don't think you're smart,"_ BEEK said. _"Not after what you said to the president."_

"If anything, they think I'm weird, not retarded."

The shaking calmed down as the massive zoid came close to touching the ground. The numerous reporters backed up so that the wind would not blow them away. Its maw slowly opened so that everyone inside could exit. Once a pathway made itself visible to Ven, he pushed Liger Zero forward. It caught his attention that BEEK was not following them for some reason.

"_Aren't you going to come along?" _Liger Zero queried.

"_Only selected zoids get to go outside, usually for military purposes,"_ the Dibison informed sadly. _"If I were one of them, my pilot would've come running to me."_

"_Well why aren't you one of them?"_ A Dibison was typically a heavily valued zoid, so Zero was dumbfounded that he wasn't being summoned.

"_I've had my accidents here and there during some fights. I guess that's all it really takes to lose a spot."_

His speaking made the Dibison reminisce about the aforementioned battles and how certain parts of his used to sometimes give out, almost costing him and everyone else around their victory. They were painful memories to say the least.

"_Oh…"_ Zero grumbled, _"'Must suck…"_

"_Damn, does it."_

Liger Zero and Ven were greeted by the sight of a man once the massive double-doors to the hangar opened. He was there to direct the duo out of the Whale King. He immediately proceeded to guide them. He took slow steps back the way he came and used hand gestures to tell them where to go.

"I hope you're ready for what you're about to experience, Buddy."

"_I'm not," _Liger Zero growled in a worried tone.

Another crowd had slowly but surely formed once the Whale King grew completely quiet. With its maw completely open, hundreds of spectators and news reporters tried to bypass the security Biozoids. Their pilots made seemingly futile attempts to control the people of Remma, especially when Malcolm was seen rolling out in his wheelchair. Everyone's mind was booming with questions once they noticed his altered figure. He was seen trying to cover his eyes from all the flashing lights with his right arm. Sure, the people were still a good distance away, but the fact that there were numerous flashes didn't make things any more convenient.

Zanzer was walking a few yards behind the president, trying to cover his eyes in much the same fashion.

"I though you said you had things here under control?!" Malcolm demanded.

"Things were fine before I left. I guess not even Biozoids are that intimidating these days."

The crowd wasn't about to get calm down either. None of Remma's people knew why the president had taken off, so they all lost control of themselves with shock and joy once Liger Zero proceeded to walk down and into the light.

"_Ah, what the hell?!"_ Liger had never been exposed to such an extraordinary celebrity-like praise. He had to pause and veer his head back just so the cameras wouldn't bother him so much.

"Hey, let's keep moving," Ven told, "We're holding up things behind us."

"_That's easy for you to say since your eyes are being covered from all this!"_

"You're a zoid. What can some flashes do to you?"

"_They're just really irritating."_

The legendary zoid continued to stroll out and onto Zi's ground, much to the delight of the citizens. To them, witnessing the black and white feline in front of them was like staring at a long-lost loved-one and hero. And although he was a savior, Liger felt insignificant being amongst the massive population.

A few more zoids continued to poor out from the Whale King. They consisted of Gunsipers, Rev Raptors, and Godoses. Some of the pilots even opened the hatches of their zoids so that they could wave to the crowd. From a distance, it was almost like watching a parade. The screaming and cheering could be heard from miles away as people were soothed to know that the president was fine. This even seemed to overshadow whatever distasteful feelings they had towards the older man from earlier in the day.

Rachel controlled a Gravity Ptera that she had reserved a while back as she flew high in the sky. The lieutenant constantly looked down so that she could direct Malcolm along a route to the Zi Tower that would be safe from the citizens' hyperactive behaviors. Some of the security zoids also tagged alongside him just in case something went wrong. It was lucky for them that it would only take minutes for him to get there, because no one knew how far the reporters would go with their questions and their behavior.

The president picked up his pace as the Zi Tower became clearer. From there in his office he would be able to make an official speech to the world concerning his condition and if the government's priorities would shift.

"Things are clear and straightforward from here on out, Mr. President," Rachel informed through an earpiece.

"I can see that," Malcolm confirmed as he sped his wheelchair forward, Zanzer jogging right behind him. "Your work is appreciated, Rachel. Come back to the ground as soon as possible."

"Roger that."

Zanzer stepped in front of the president and pushed the doors open for him. He also pushed the elevator button for him.

"I want you to stay down here," ordered Malcolm once the elevator doors opened. "Your immediate leadership in the security forces will be required."

"Understood," Zanzer confirmed. The security leader instantly boomed out of the building to go get his Bioraptor after Malcolm left his sight in the elevator.

Other security zoids had directed Ven and Liger Zero along a detour. The two were not sure of where they were specifically being instructed to go, but knew it was probably the safest option. However, the area became instantly recognizable to the teenager as soon as he laid eyes upon it. One of the pilots in another zoid informed Ven that there was currently no more storage room inside the base he escaped from hours ago, so the only place to park Liger was in a spot outside but within its defenses.

"I think I've had enough of all these bases," Ven said, looking back at the day and the number of hangars he'd been in. Being in three would drive your typical person insane.

"_Stick around in the desert for a few years and you'll come to appreciate them."_

Several of the base's employees had reserved a spot for Liger Zero and waved their hands, signaling for the zoid to approach them. Ven trudged Liger over to the reserved parking spot and adjusted the zoid's position. The feline lowered his head for Ven as the hatch opened.

"I'll have to go meet up with the president, so you make sure you stay here," Ven told the zoid.

"_Yeah, yeah. There's not really anywhere for me to go anyway." _Liger grumbled. The young pilot jumped out of the cockpit and looked at the other people around him, each of them giving him strange stares. They were expecting to see a grown man step out, not a silver-haired kid that looked like an amateur. Though they knew he was who he was.

Ven asked them if they knew of a shortcut to the Zi Tower since he didn't want to keep Malcolm waiting. One of the women pointed him in the direction of several closed-together buildings, stating that he would have to weave his way through the fences. The teenager acknowledged the advice and took off, waving behind him.

"Thanks!" he yelled back.

* * *

Ragnarok and several other men were walking out of the Backdraft Whale King and looked at the massive amount of buildings in front of them. This particular area housed all of the Backdraft's operations, and it was imperative to them that they keep it intact. There were some smaller Backdraft camps around Zi, but those were more to be considered outposts really. They were used for seeing things and to help strategize movements. But no zoids were held at them so that Zi's government and the Commission would not get suspicious. Though after the surprise attack that was launched on the desert base, Ragnarok was pretty confident that the president would tell everyone to keep their eyes open for even the littlest things in the world.

The dark architecture loomed over the blue-haired commander as he walked quickly to the headquarters of the Backdraft base. The Count, also known as the president of the Backdraft Group, was not the most patient of men. Keeping him waiting too long would mean suicide for your job if he was expecting you. The headquarters was immediately identifiable due to its unique shape, resembling an upsidedown 'L' more than anything else.

Some of the Backdraft pilots were watching the news to see what was going on in the rest of the world. Knowing whatever political activities was happening was important for them to know so that the Backdraft Group would not fall into traps. The news of what had happened regarding the Liger Zero shocked them greatly. They then turned to look at Ragnarok and could tell by his facial expression that something clearly went wrong during the mission. Most, however, did not want to touch on the subject with him as they've had past experiences of discussing things in his presence that he did not feel too positive about. Everybody around him kept quiet.

Before long, the commander made it to the massive structure and ordered his men to stay behind. No one questioned him as the automatic doors opened up slickly. They closed as he stepped inside. The aura within the structure was dark, perfectly fitting the Backdraft's and Ragnarok's persona. It made the man feel at home, in a sense.

He made a few turns before he entered an empty elevator. He pressed the button for the top floor and waited patiently as the machine swiftly flew upwards. The floor counter went up drastically and stopped at thirty-six. The commander was immediately greeted by the darkness of the Senate as the elevator opened. A bluish path was illuminated as he walked to the center of the sphere-shaped room.

"Senate, commence," Ragnarok boomed, snapping his fingers. Neon-blue lines filled the walls, forming mazes. Video displays of several older men and women popped up as the design finished itself.

They were the heads and soul of the Backdraft Group.

A much larger display formed directly in front of Ragnarok. The commander took off his cap and bowed at the sight of The Count, his one and only true boss. His image was instantly identifiable by everyone around the globe. He was bald, with a smirk and green eyes that created the perfect combo package for intimidating the small and innocent. Though in Ragnarok's case, it made him into a loyal troop.

"Rise, Commander Ragnarok," The Count ordered. The commander obeyed and put his military cap back on. He performed the Backdraft salute, which consisted of placing one's right hand on their chest and left arm before swiftfully lining up their right arm adjacently next to the right side of their torso. "I've heard some things already, and you apparently have mixed news to report."

"You are right, my lord," the blue-haired man responded with a slightly shaken tone. "I wish I could say that mission was a complete success, but then I'd be lying to you."

"So what did happen then?" another of the men joined in. Ragnarok swallowed before he started.

"As was requested, I deployed a league of Deathpions and foresaw the destruction of the desert base. The attack was a complete success. However, we failed in disabling the Liger Zero. As of now, I assume the president is doing whatever he can to keep it safe and fine-tuning it." The commander's words sparked controversy among everyone else until The Count ordered for silence. His tone instantly made it clear that he was furious with the current situation.

"So you mean to tell me that our chance of sealing our victory has been decimated?" He yelled.

"I hate to say so, but yes."

The Count slammed his fist hard. He personally held a grudge against the Commission for not paying him money that they owed him, so the news of Liger Zero's condition threw him into an even deeper rage.

"I sent our best man, and not even he was capable of accomplishing what I asked!"

"There was nothing else I could do due to misrepresentative combat statistics for the zoid. The stats I viewed told me the strategy I coordinated would work. Though its stats were clearly much higher given the combat performance I saw."

"I take it that's why I've yet to hear of a Deathpion's return?" The Count queried.

"Yes. Each of them was defeated in battle. And to make matters worse, Lamarck, Zion, and Lea were taken as prisoners."

"And you did nothing about it?"

"If I did, my position would've been revealed and I'd probably be dead right now." Ragnarok was careful to pick the right words since an argument was the last thing he wanted to start with his lord. The Count felt grim about the current situation.

"So now the Commission will likely force answers out of that trio. And given Zion's clumsiness, the worst things will be spilled."

"Then what should our next course of action be?" asked a woman. A man answered her.

"At the very least, a new and quickly developable strategy will be needed if the Commission does anything."

"In that case, we will double the training procedures of our pilots," declared The Count. "If a strike does come, it is guaranteed it will be with force. I expect the Liger Zero will join them in the fray as well."

"Then what is my next objective?" Ragnarok requested.

"You are to take half of your men and spread out outside of the base to halt anything that may come. If you see a non-Backdraft zoid, destroy it. If a pilot sprawls out, kill it. Vengeance is what we strive off of. However, I will be returning in a Raynos within the hour, so make sure you and your men do not misjudge. I'll be needed to oversee the rest of our plan."

"Understood."

Though Ragnarok wasn't quite sure he did. The Count was not one to think up strategies quickly and then effectively convey what was on his mind.

"Some of us will be making an appearance as well," announced the oldest member, "so you'll have to be extra careful."

"Please…" Ragnarok muttered, "when was the last time I mistook any of you?"

"You're turning forty-five, right? It comes with the age. An old man like me knows." The comment offended the commander as he retaliated.

"If you've seen my records, you'd know that I'm not one to generate mistakes regularly, unlike what yours say."

"Well that won't be good enough," The Count said. "You've been unsuccessful once, as we all know, and failure to meet expectations again will not only be costly for you, but for the entire organization. I _can_ trust you, I assure." The doubt in The Count's voice struck Ragnarok as disappointing another was something he hated with a passion.

"Of course, my lord."

"In addition, I'll need you to inform our engineers instantly. If they learn about our situation, we will see strong enhancements to our weaponry within a reasonable time. An optimized charged particle cannon would do wonders for us."

The mere mention of that weapon made Ragnarok shudder. As much as he was all for destroying the commission, the use of the cannon wasn't an idea he was most fond of. Its power was something he understood very well since he had seen it used when he worked as a spy. The Count considered his feelings to be niche and disregarded them altogether. So all he could do was go along with things.

"That will be problematic since most of our older and best-trained engineers have recently begun seeking retirement jobs," informed the commander.

"Then tell them that this is a direct order from The Count and that their pay will be temporarily raised," the bald man demanded. "We can't afford to wait for results. They may or may not know about the current situation we are in, but informing or re-informing them will make a difference, I guarantee."

"Then I'll see to it."

"You had better. Now take your leave as I have orders to relay to our troops in the other sectors of Zi."

Ragnarok asked no questions and made no hesitant movements as he turned around to proceed out of the room, careful of his movements so that The Count would not become suspicious of him in any way, shape, or form. In the Backdraft Group, you had to be exact and precise at all times with everything while in front of the leaders, or otherwise be accusable of treason. The soldiers and pilots gave Ragnarok the same kind of respect while within his immediate eyesight. When they didn't, he was quick to correct them in a harsh manner. Some of the most obedient men and women have been created by him as a result, earning him a great reputation in Backdraft history.

However, he was curious as to why he wasn't allowed to know what the Count was going to tell the other Backdraft members around the globe.

"Sir," the old man began, "by all means, I do think you perhaps…trust him with a little too much. I realize that he's our best, but if his grandfather is anything to go by, putting as much on him as you are can lead to very serious dilemmas."

"Like I said, I trust the man. And if you've been in my position, then you know how to identify whether someone is trustworthy or not," The Count explained. He reminisced his early days from living at his home decades ago, where seeing deception on the streets was as common as hearing words sift through the air.

"I do not quite understand."

"In due time you will. In fact, the whole world will."

The Backdraft's lord's image disappeared, leaving everybody else with a sense of feeling uncomfortable with his last words. Though he had always been good to them and provided them with some of their needs, so they chose to be dismissive of the matter.

* * *

Ven listened intently to the televised speech Malcolm was giving to the rest of the world. It shocked him to hear the president say such things as "The biased judgements of the Backdraft Group are not what we can possibly emulate" and "we won't allow the evils that keep the reality at bay to prevail". The teenager could not comprehend that the president actually harbored this mindset, especially after going through what happened only a couple hours ago.

Ven saw guards holding machine guns standing in front of the building's entrance. They eyed Ven carefully, not letting him in until they could identify who he was.

"And who may you be?" demanded one of them. He already didn't like this one given his facial expression. Why was it so hard to find someone respectful anyway?

"Ven Night. I believe the president requested that I meet him in his office."

The guards then recalled a request and a computer image of a silver-haired teenager sent from Malcolm.

"Ah yes, it is you. You may enter." They stepped aside to make way for Ven. The sixteen-year-old acknowledged their action and entered the Zi Tower. Security had locked off the elevator so that anyone who busted in would have difficulty reaching the president. Ven dreaded the thought of having to walk up hundreds of stairs, in particular after a long day of exercise with hardly any time to rest.

He found the stairs and sighed. His tired legs would probably give out afterwards. He took his first step and went along at a normal pace. The president hadn't told Ven that he needed to talk to him by a specific time.

The pain of his sore calves and quadriceps begin to hit earlier than he predicted. Ven was only halfway up and could already notice the sluggishness in his movements developing.

_I swear, he must hate me to death or something to put me through this. It's not like I feel any different about him, though…_

The negative thoughts continued to process in his mind, even as he reached the top. By then, he almost felt as if he was about to collapse back down the last ten or so steps. He shoved the door in front of him open and saw a frame with the words "PRESIDENT'S QUARTERS" next to another one. This door was open for him.

_Thank God._

He forced his legs in a forward motion and could see and hear Malcolm delivering the last words of his speech. Ven thought it was amazing how quickly the leader could come up with gallant words in such a short amount of time, regardless of how he personally felt about some of them.

The president turned off the camera due to the sound of footsteps and turned to see Ven.

"Young men these days typically don't seem to in the best shape," Malcolm criticized. Ven took a seat on the opposite side of the desk, making audible breaths.

"I woke up ten minutes ago and have been running, walking, and thinking all day. Could I just catch a break?"

"Back in my day, I did all the kinds of exercises you went through today, only twenty-four-seven here and there. So I have no sympathy. Though that probably doesn't strike you as a surprise right now."

The president's words didn't make Ven feel any better as the meeting in the Whale King ran through his mind, only more vividly thanks to his uncomfortable emotions.

"But I suggest you don't think about that right now," he suggested. "That way, we can make this a bit quicker, and hopefully start to make some progress tonight."

_Quicker? Does this guy really not care about me at all? Isn't the president supposed to be a man who rewards before punishing? Shit… _

"Now, so that we don't waste any time, I'll give you a rather simple task. Or at least by my standards it's simple."

Ven groaned as he took in what the president had just said.

"What? Is it too hard already? Well why don't we find out…?"

The sinister tone the teenager heard kept disturbing him. The tone alone told him that whatever was to come was something his body was going to hate enormously. Malcolm opened several drawers and took out many files and paperwork to help him figure out what he would have the young pilot do. He found an option he thought to be great after flipping through his documents and looked at other choices to see if there was one more preferable. He pointed his finger at a certain phrase on the page to signal that he had decided.

"I don't think this one will be too bad," the elderly man muttered. He raised his pitch higher while he continued, "Okay, this is what I will have you do."

Ven veered his head forward to get a closer look. If his body had the energy, his eyes would've popped out of his head. The words Malcolm pointed at threw his mind into a frenzy.

"So what do you think?"

For the second time that day, Ven passed out.

* * *

To say that things have been eventful so far would be an understatement. Only an hour or so after my introduction to this new generation I was thrusted into combat. And I was with a new pilot as well, the third in which I have come to trust. Of the three, though, I would have to say that he's the strangest. A human who can communicate most effectively with a zoid has never been recorded in history as far as I know. But perhaps that just has to do with the changes that can occur over one hundred or so years, or however long it's been.

This same pilot also seems to have something familiar that I just can't identify. And there's no point in asking him about it since he would just be clueless. But as I stand here, surrounded by even more unfamiliar faces, it drives my mind in all different directions. It must have something to do with why he can understand me! It must!

And I thought about the fight decades ago, where I was able to identify who the Berzerk Fuhrer was due to its aura. But Ven is not someone I've met before. Or perhaps metaphorically speaking I have. Things just can't seem to be pieced together easily. Hell, now that I think about it, figuring things out must be what my life has been dedicated to. There's been absolutely no chance to rest. And an hour or whatever that was in that Whale King doesn't count.

Maybe, though, I can get what I want now until Ven comes back. If I'm fortunate, that won't be soon.

* * *

**The next day…**

Ven did not like what he was assigned at all. In fact, he _absolutely hated it_. The name of the area in which he was to work was bad enough already. The stench that came with being there was out of this world. Coupled with the fact the president wouldn't let him rest for another hour and a half, things couldn't get any worse.

He stood in the middle of the junkyard as he contemplated what other objects had to be placed somewhere. The teenager still found it extremely odd that he was being forced to do this with a Rev Raptor. Apparently, it was the only zoid available for the job, and its worth was low.

The raptor dropped a pile of what looked like manure and remained in place until Ven made it move again.

"Jeez, I'm almost out of it," he sighed. "I think I might end up accidentally falling asleep in here. And there's still at least thirty-five things to move."

"Hey," yelled an irrational voice through the zoid's speakers. "Did anyone say you could take a break? Now keep working!" Ven did not take kindly to those words as he continued to sit back with a tired look on his face.

"Your name's Thomas, right?" he asked.

"That is none of your business!"

"For Pete's sake, let's see you keep working for tens of hours straight!"

"As an authority figure here, I do my share. Besides, I've already done my hellful workload for you just by listening to you ramble in court! So just as I said, get moving!"

"Well could you tone down the harshness a little?" the pilot taunted.

"Kid, you are in violation of-"

"Okay, fine," Ven sharply interrupted, "Whatever. Keep your ego high." The sarcasm in Ven's voice resonated in the cockpit as more piles were moved. He looked up in the air to catch the view of Thomas flying about in a Redler as he looked over other work in the city. Several aggressive thoughts raced through the young pilot's mind.

_Seems like he's headed south. If I can get a good running start, I might be able to jump high enough off that rubble and get him with…_

"What part of get moving don't you understand?! Just cause you're back there, doesn't mean I still can't see you," Thomas said. Ven didn't retort before he got back to moving more trash, but his feelings boiled. And you know how one's emotions work very differently when they're exhausted.

_That guy gets to boss me around. No, that _idiot _gets to boss me around. How great can a situation get?_

But he certainly felt things could definitely get better upon spotting lock-on controls. The technology was built so that it could also be used to detect if the equipped-zoid was within tracking radius of the targets radar. If the zoid was no longer within the radius, the target would lose its lock-on status. The teenager instantly felt delighted, despite having barely slept. He was presented with an opportunity to mess with Thomas for once and would absolutely not refuse to take advantage of it. He manipulated the controls and steered the reticule to keep a focus on Thomas before he was locked-on. Now all Ven knew he had to do was wait for the right moment. Meanwhile, he would have to keep working.

It initially seemed as if Thomas would never disappear. But that soon changed, and the young pilot quickly took notice. A sly grin crept across his face while he giggled. He had made the place look as Malcolm had wanted, so he looked for the quickest exit. There was a small barbed wire fence that the Rev Raptor could easily step over. Wasting no time, Ven darted the zoid out of the junkyard.

The dinosaur twisted its head left and right to check for a clear coast. Ven moved the Rev Raptor forward since no one else was in sight. His eyes stayed alert of anything that might move as he tailed the direction in which Thomas flew. The teenager traveled down routes that were still under construction, jumping over any roadwork. It was still early in the morning so no one was wandering about in the nearby perimeter.

He slowed down his zoid as he could see a regiment of security Rev Raptors walking down a street. This area was where many of the most influential business entrepreneurs in Remma and from the rest of the world lived, so the government was tight on keeping it safe.

_Perhaps I could blend in with them._

The Raptor backed up and hid behind an average-sized building. The regiment kept on getting closer and closer. He wanted to get in from behind so that he wouldn't be noticed. Once the last zoid passed by, the red dinosaur joined the group and stuck to the back. Ven gripped the controls tightly as his mind stressed what would happen if he was caught. But he did his best to keep his confidence high. And that allowed him to stick with things.

The morning sunshine glistened gleefully as it forcefully reminded him of something he was in dire need of. His Rev Raptor kept walking forward along with the rest of the zoids, however, since he still wanted to get back at Thomas. Though quite unfortunately, Ven saw what must've been Thomas's Redler fly right above him in the opposite direction. The sight was extremely upsetting since the guard would most definitely notice his absence at the junkyard.

_Damnit! I'm probably gonna have to break off from this group now. But how am I going to do that without being noticed by the rest? Hmmm…_

The teenager shifted his sight around to see if there was any direction in which he could sneak off in. Little did he know that his presence was noticed.

* * *

The regiment continued in its patrol for the next twenty minutes with Ven's Rev Raptor still trailing it. There still had been no way for him to quietly sneak away.

_No luck. Great. Now what am I-_

His thoughts were suddenly brought to a halt as soon as he passed by a familiar zoid. Its bellow, or 'voice' caught him completely off guard.

"_That's strange. I don't recall this many Rev Raptors being assigned to this patrol,"_ a Dibison mentioned. Ven instantly recognized the Dibison to be BEEK. He almost reacted by saying something but held himself back. Voicing his thoughts would've gotten him into much bigger problems. However, what was heard soon after would guarantee that things would get worse.

"There seems to be an extra member in this regiment," boomed Thomas's voice, striking Ven coldly.

_He switched zoids? And he switched to using BEEK?!_

"Please identify yourself."

The Rev Raptors stopped in their place and appeared to say nothing.

"I said identify yourself!"

The pilots of the zoids each looked around to see if they could figure out who was currently slowing them down. It wasn't long before they noticed a zoid at the very back that looked out of position and untrained.

"You, at the end!"

The teenager gulped as he tried to think of an escape solution.

_Every time I try to stay away from him or that other guy, I always get caught. Can't things just work out my way with these two for once?_

Ven backed his zoid up so that more routes would become visibly available to him. Meanwhile, Thomas ordered the regiment to keep moving. He and BEEK approached the remaining zoid at an average pace. The blue-haired guard was clearly losing patience as his tone heightened.

"This should not be taking long! And I'm on a tight schedule, whoever you are."

"_You heard the idiot!"_

Ven chuckled at BEEK's thoughts about Thomas. Though, he wasn't sure if he would define the guard as an idiot as much as he would a nuisance. Either way, he didn't like the situations he's had with him one bit.

He looked to his right and saw an opportunity to get lucky this time as he eyed an alleyway that pointed towards the sun. It was the perfect width for a Rev Raptor.

_Sayonara, Asshole!_

The red zoid's weight was forced to its side before it made its escape. Thomas and BEEK were left in the dust by the sudden takeoff. They both tried to follow the dinosaur until they saw that they couldn't fit through the passage.

"Damn," Thomas swore, slamming his fist on some of the controls. "That must've been that stupid kid Ven. He's just damaging my checks even more." He stormed off with BEEK as he thought about how he would explain what had happened to Malcolm. But BEEK had his own thoughts.

"_Wait a second, that was Ven? If so, I don't blame him for running off."_


	7. Plans and Strikes Part 2

**Happy New Year!!! :D**

* * *

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**Plans and Strikes Part 2**

The cockpit's hatch shielded Ven's eyes from the sun. He continued down the path and made a U-turn once he encountered a small intersection. He then proceeded to his right, checking behind him to make sure that he wasn't actually being followed. The zoid slowed down once Ven took in that he would not be caught.

"Phew! Looks like I managed to get out of that one, thankfully."

The teenager kept pushing the Rev Raptor forward amongst the structures. The devoid buildings created an eerie aura that set off Ven's concentration on his surroundings. To him, it felt as if he was trudging through a ghost town.

"But this, however…is quite strange."

Noise could be heard in the distance as the zoid moved closer to where most of the population was. The area started to become more and more recognizable to him, in particular when he spotted the base where Liger Zero was parked.

_Yes! Now I can finally get some rest!_

It was still early in the morning, so none of the mechanics were working on the zoids. Ven decided he was going to take advantage of this opportunity to sneak into the base and reunite with Zero. He was hoping the zoid would allow him inside the cockpit so he could get the sleep his body was screaming for.

The dinosaur snuck around behind one of the base's large fences where it was dark so that it would not be seen. Once it was in a safe spot, the head lowered before the teenager opened the hatch. The harness lifted so that Ven could get out. He took off for one of the fences and proceeded to climb over it, being careful not to make too much of a racket that he would cause attention. He was sure thousands of people new his face, so being spotted would likely cause tons of trouble to fall on him.

The pilot stared at the wide open outside of the base where he was held prisoner. From where he was standing he could see the feline zoid to his right. Before he would break off into a sprint again he analyzed the landscape to make sure that no one would see him.

_I've been continuously trying not to be seen but end up with my face on TV screens. How ironic._

Confident that he wouldn't be spotted, he pushed his body to go as fast as he could towards Liger Zero. He arrived there panting. Fortunately the zoid had awoken already, allowing him the leeway of not having to put up with attitude.

"_Looks like you finally came back," _Liger commented.

"Yeah. At the best time, too."

"_I take it the president has been making you do something strainful?"_

"Tell me about it. He made me work through the night as well, so I haven't slept yet."

"_You haven't slept?! What's up with him?!"_ the feline barked.

"He told me he's been through worse. Says he's got no sympathy either," Ven replied as he regained his breath.

"_It sounds like he's more egotistical than anything else."_

"Obviously. I think it's got something to do with you, though," the pilot commented. "He always saw you as _his _zoid, and now he's got somebody he barely even knows piloting it."

"_That makes sense. Though he's being over-the-top about this if you ask me."_

"Damn, you have no idea."

Ven rose his head so that he could look up at the Liger Zero. The zoid saw the small expression in the sixteen-year-old's eyes and understood what was on his pilot's mind.

"_Tell you what,"_ Zero began, _"I'll let you relax inside me since the only rest you got at all was in the Whale King."_

"Oh lord, thank you," Ven sighed delightedly. His eyes were significantly exhausted as they were.

"_But whatever you do, just don't fiddle around with the wrong things. You could easily accidentally create a big mess out here."_

"Whatever, fine by me."

"_You sure?" _Liger growled suspiciously.

"Yes."

"_You don't really seem like it."_

"Oh come on," Ven complained, fed up with how things had been lately, "I've yet to ever mess with your controls."

"_I've lived long enough to know there's a first for everything,"_ The black and white zoid joked as it lowered itself, self-exposing the cockpit.

"I find it hard to believe there's a first for a pilot doing something stupid in his own zoid."

"_Look, let's just say I've experienced a lot."_

"Oh, I'm sure you must have," Ven uttered as heclimbed into the cockpit weakly. The zoid couldn't help but notice how slowly Ven was moving to get inside.

"_What did he make you do anyway?"_

"He gave me a pick up job in a junkyard and kept an even more annoying watch guard on me. I'd been working for the past eight hours before I finished." The teenager finally got into the seat and instantly kicked back, taking in as much of the refreshing experience as he could.

"_You guys have one crazy ruler."_

That last statement went ignored as Ven quietly closed his eyes and watched the top of the Liger's head close down above him. Everything around him felt and grew calm. There was nothing that could be disturbing.

Or so for the next few hours.

* * *

Much noise could be heard at the now brightly lit Backdraft ground. Much production was occurring as engineers and carpenters were working furiously and twice as hard as usual. The Count had arrived and made it clear that there could possibly be an emergency situation brewing, so everyone was determined to make sure they would be ready for anything. But there were some optimists about the whole current situation as well. Ragnarok was one of them.

The Backdraft commander was walking down an aisle among the tents making sure that every member was tending to their business. A popular belief among the organization's leaders was that one slacker could cost everyone millions, not just in cash but in deaths and morality as well. Anyone who wasn't working as hard as they could got 'the eye' from Ragnarok. The eye alone was all it took to nerve them to get back to what they were doing.

"Hey, Sir," yelled a masculine voice. Ragnarok looked for the source of the sound and saw a soldier peaking out from a guarded tent, using his hand to signal for the commander to come in. "I think you may want to take a look at this."

He shrugged and decided to see what was up.

He pushed the cloth aside as he stepped in. He stared at all the technological equipment before he noticed a group of men and women huddled around a TV monitor. The sounds he heard coming from it confirmed that this must be a live interrogation.

_They still put those on the air?_

The same man probed for Ragnarok to come closer to get a better view. The commander moved in and peaked around the heads and shoulders of the other people. He instantly noticed why he was invited in as soon as he saw the faces of three different Backdraft pilots.

"That son of a bitch," complained a man as he clenched his fist. "He just can't control himself in front of others."

Everybody kept watching intensely as Lamarck, Lea, and Zion were being interrogated. Zion was of course sharing deep information, some of which was classified Backdraft knowledge. Lea and Lamarck were making futile attempts to keep Zion from irrationally spewing out with their expressions and words. The two of them had enough experience to know how to not seem suspicious. Zion on the other hand was still somewhat of a rookie who had been diagnosed with mental instabilities.

"Just as I thought he would," Ragnarok muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the soldier asked.

"He's been in my service for a year," the leader responded, "so I've gotten to know how he functions quite well."

The interrogation ended after a few minutes. Everything Zion had said left Ragnarok in an irritated mood. The others didn't even notice him take his leave as he quickly moved out of the tent. There would surely be a change of plans now that the Commission knew a bit about how their strategies are formed. So he flipped on an earpiece to try to communicate with The Count.

"Are you there?" the blue-haired man queried, still emanating some of his emotions.

"I can hear you. What is of importance now?" The distorted voice caught the attention of others nearby, though no one dared to ask questions given the commander's tone.

"My lord, have you seen what's been playing live on the news?"

"Enough of it. It surely seems as if you haven't trained that little man to your best."

"Not my best, _his _best."

"Yes, of course," the older man sinisterly chuckled. "But that doesn't matter right now. If he ever does get out of his current predicament, I will see to it that he does not rejoin the Backdraft Group. However, we must focus on the task at hand-"

"But Sir," Ragnarok cut in. "did you hear what he told them?! They now know how our zoid manufacturing processes work and some of our most elite attack formations! What good will any of the work we are doing right now be of if they can easily break us?!"

"Any progress made is progress in the right direction. And with the Liger Zero in their stock, I can guarantee you that the combat information Zion spilled is of no use to us now either way. He could've told them worse things, but thankfully he didn't. But this is where you come further into play."

"Look, Sir, my men are busy and working hard as they are. If I bring my squad leaders together and enforce another battle plan into their minds, chances are they won't be able to comprehend it or remember it later."

"Who said battle strategies were what I was thinking of?" The Count hinted.

"What do you mean?" The bald man let out another laugh.

"I've been doing some research lately and discovered something very interesting. In a sense, there will be and there won't be a change of plan."

Ragnarok continued to listen, even though he was confused.

"I told you to spread your soldiers outward and I see that you have. However, I want you to take a closer look at the forest where you deployed the Connecteses. There seems to be something within that area that is very foreign to everything else within its vicinity. Whatever it is, it may prove to be of great use to us."

The Count awaited a response from the Backdraft commander, but it never came. To his dismay he heard an irritated lowness in Ragnarok's throat. The blue-haired man still felt uneasy about what he was being told to do. Add that to the fact that his lord relayed orders he is unaware of to other troops didn't help better his feelings at all. If anything, things seemed to be a little suspicious to him.

"You will comply, right?" The Count said, breaking the silence.

"Yes. I'll see to it."

And with with that, Ragnarok hung up and proceeded to the announcement center. Thoughts still continued to pour through his mind.

"He's been treating me like I'm his dog," he muttered.

* * *

Six hours of the day had passed before Ven came to once again. Feeling reenergized, he poked and prodded at the zoid controls since Liger seemed to be in deep thought.

"_What are you doing?" _Liger snarled. _"I thought you promised you wouldn't mess with anything in there."_

"I'm not," Ven confirmed, thinking of which button to press. "At least I don't think so. For some reason I can't get the hatch to open."

"_Then just tell me that."_

"I thought something else was on your mind, so I didn't want to disturb you."

"_Meh, I've been disturbed enough times lately ever since I met you."_

Ven stopped in his movements as he glared at the controls annoyingly.

"_That's nothing personal, by the way."_

"Uh-huh."

Meanwhile, the bright sunlight immediately shone on his face as the fresh air seeped in. He took in all of it while the zoid lowered itself. The teenager jumped out once he was close enough to the ground and landed coolly on his feet.

"_Seems like someone is already getting better,"_ the feline complimented.

"I figured I'd have to try it sometime," Ven said. He stretched his entire body out and yawned. Luckily it was lunch break, so everyone at the base was inside. "So now what do I do since the president is probably on my ass?"

"_Why would he be after you right now? Did you not finish something?"_ the cockpit closed as Liger Zero stood up to his full length again.

"Well…I mostly finished my work," Ven muttered weakly. Liger could easily tell something was not right.

"_That's very reassuring, Ven."_

"Yeah, especially when you're in my position. One of his men seems to know that I've disappeared as well. I'm surprised they haven't stopped by to check here though."

"_They actually did. It's just that they know better than to poke and prod me." _Ven chuckled at the idea of Liger Zero growling at Thomas and Zanzer and scaring them off.

"I guess I should be thankful then," the pilot said delightedly.

"_Indeed. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me."_

"Please. You're pretty much the reason why I got involved in all this in the first place."

"_You didn't have to chase that old man. In fact, why did you if you knew he was stupid?"_

"I'm a curious kid at heart. Besides, I never knew him personally before yesterday."

The two were going to casually continue their conversation until they heard a ruckus coming from within the structure. Ven turned his head and immediately noticed a couple other pilots walking outside and dragging something. He wasted no time in taking cover behind one of Liger's legs as being caught would most certainly guarantee further trouble. However, a familiar childish voice caught his attention.

The teenager peaked around the zoid's leg and took a look at what the men were pulling. The figure was a human as he could tell, and a very identifiable one at that. The person looked to be around thirteen-years-old and wore a midnight blue shirt. His hair was shoulder-length and black with visible silver streaks standing out. The dark jeans he had on were being slowly ruined by the cement as they were run across it.

"Oh my god, you've got to be kidding me." Ven brought his head back behind cover and wondered what must've happened.

"_You know that kid?"_ Liger asked quietly so that no one else would hear.

"That's my little brother," Ven answered. "My family adopted him not too long ago."

"_Your little brother? Then what is he…?"_

The kid was shoved away and fell face first onto the ground. The pilots were cursing him for disrespecting them as they left and returned inside. Once they disappeared, Ven got out of his hiding position and watched as the younger kid slowly got up onto his feet. The black-haired being shook his head and soon caught notice of Ven's presence, his eyes wide with shock.

"Aero? What happened to you?"

No response came from the brother. He looked down at his feet as tears welled up in his eyes. The sound of him crying soon followed. The older teenager walked over to Aero to try to figure out what just happened to him. The kid suddenly leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Ven. He returned the gesture with his own hug and attempted to reassure Aero.

"Look, it's fine now." His brother looked up at him with soaked eyes as the sun reflected off of his tears.

"They…I just…I…"

"You know what, save the talking for later." Ven reached his arms around Aero's waistline and picked him up. "You've been gaining some weight, haven't you?" He brought the injured boy over to Liger Zero.

"_You're going to take him with us?" _The pilot nodded in response. _"Wait a second, how are you going to get him out of here?"_

"The same way I came in." Ven almost took back his response since he realized Aero could've become suspicious. Luckily for him the kid was so caught up in his own emotions at the moment that he didn't notice anything.

"_You can't be serious. Things are just gonna be Zaber Fang and mouse out there for you."_

"I've gotta get him out of here somehow. And I'll start an alarm if I take you with me." The zoid groaned as he could no longer protest. But that didn't leave him happy.

"_You certainly have a thing for living the risky life, don't you?"_

"It's the only option I've got to take. One thing just leads to another." In his own way, Liger smirked. Not a single part of Ven's personality was new to him.

"_I suppose so."_

Ven left Zero again and carried Aero over to the fence that he climbed over earlier. Things seemed clear and he was about to help his younger brother over it. But that was not the case once Aero landed on the other side. He was still expressing how he felt, and the current predicament was about to make him feel worse.

"STOP RIGHT THERE," sounded a booming voice over a speaker. Ven looked for the source of it and saw someone looking at him from within a tower. The person's most striking features were his blue hair and ego. His sight caused Ven's shoulders to droop instantly.

"Are you serious?" the pilot moaned. "Seems like he really knows how to get around." And Thomas made it evident that he was proud of his accomplishment.

"There's no where for you to go now," Thomas declared. Ven looked around to see if there were going to be any solutions this time. Sure there was still the Rev Raptor parked outside the base's perimeters, but if he had taken off with it, Thomas would surely have used a flying zoid from the hangar and tailed him real quickly. As to acknowledge this, Ven raised his hands in the air.

"What's going on?" cried a confused Aero. That question suddenly sent Ven's mind into panic mode. What was his younger brother going to do without him.

_He managed to find his way here, so he should be able to find his way home._

"Just get out of here as fast as you can," he whispered. Fortunately, Thomas could not see Aero from the angle he was at.

"But where will I go?"

"Home."

"Home?" Aero gasped, shock overtaking his depression. "But mom and dad will kill me!" Ven rolled his eyes. However, he could relate to the kid's fear, having been subject to their wrath on many occasions before.

"Okay then, fine, just go near there. And if anyone asks, do not mention my name, especially to our parents."

"What would be so bad about that?" The previous day flashed in front of Ven's mind again.

"Long story short, they'd…" Ven paused, trying to find the right words, "…they'd freak out if they found out I was out here." Aero's mind still felt as if it was in the dark as his expression displayed. "Just go! And don't pilot that Rev Raptor over there. I don't want him to get suspicious."

But whatever was going on, the younger individual knew that doing what his older brother was telling him was likely best. Before long, the black-haired kid was soon out of Ven's sight.

_I didn't even get the chance to ask what was up with him, _the pilot remembered. His attention turned back to Thomas though after he heard the click of a grappling hook. The hook penetrated deeply into a wall nearby him and offered the guard quick transportation to his location. He lightly rebounded off the metal and landed on his feet, retrieving the hook and dusting off his hands.

"Now for some real business," the guard announced. Based on the man's tone, Ven knew things were going to get dirty. "I've really had it with you now, you little chump."

"I got my work done, alright. Is there really anything wrong with me wanting to get out and do my own thing?"

"Done? Kid, I was supposed to explain the rest of what you were supposed to do AFTER you moved those piles."

"And I was supposed to know this?" Ven urged on, cocking an eyebrow.

"A loyal citizen of Remma only goes off from work when dismissed. You are anything but that. And do you know what you've cost me overall?"

"Hmmm…" Ven thought of a response, "Whatever could've kept your ego down."

"Yes, and- NO, WAIT, THAT'S NOT IT!!!" Thomas tensed his shoulders and fists. He looked at the pilot with wide eyes and snarled. This initially startled Ven, but he soon took it in as rather amusing. "Really, you've cost me thousands. Maybe I could've been rich. And that's what leads me to this." He turned around and grabbed his right fist.

"To what?"

But before Ven could think of anything else, the teenager was knocked onto the ground, the tip of Thomas's knuckles directly above his toes. The blow had done considerable damage as blood flowed out of his nose.

"That's what you get for committing violation. As for my own personal feelings…"

The guard picked the pained teenager by the uniform's collar and pulled his right fist back again. "…this one's gonna hurt even more."

Liger Zero saw what was happening to Ven. The feline stomped and loudly snarled, disturbing Thomas enough to drop Ven and search desperately for the source of the interruption. The zoid continued to growl as the guard noticed it and looked at it eye-to-eye. The staredown made Thomas feel as if Death himself was watching him. Ven, however, couldn't help but chuckle.

"No way," muttered Thomas. He looked at the groaning teenager again and asked, "You're the Liger Zero's pilot?!"

"Yes," Ven replied. "How did you stay in the dark about that?" But a moment of silence washed over Thomas, who was too shocked about the revelation. How could an escapee possibly become so gifted? His locked-on eyes made the teenager feel very uncomfortable, especially given this man seemed to be one of surprises. "Erm… Hello?"

Thomas suddenly dropped to his knees and bowed.

"Please, spare me my dear Sir," the guard pleaded. "I am one of insolence and shall never cross you like this again." (Ven and Liger sweatdrop)

"That's all good…I guess." Ven thought he couldn't understand Thomas before, but this mood swing was something else. Little did he know that things could get even more awkward.

* * *

"Keep up the good work, men," Ragnarok shouted. The commander flew high above the forest in his Raynos and scanned the operations of the Connecteses and the Gustavs (coated in black paint). They were in search of a hidden ruins that supposedly contained something mysterious and mythical, something that may make up for the failure of the previous mission. Or so Ragnarok prayed.

He continued to watch the ground and the skies. Everything was going smoothly and as planned. Guystings were moving in to help speed up the process of mowing down the trees. The Count had ordered that every last corner of the forest be examined. He also made sure to note the entrance to these ruins could come in any size, shape, or form. And his words were all it took for the Backdraft pilots to develop sharp eyes.

Time seemed to go by fast as several patches of green were cut clean. After not too long, a pilot in a Guysting relayed a video feed message to Ragnarok. Word quickly spread around that he had discovered a cave entrance in the middle of the landscape that seemed to travel underground.

"I'll be there pronto," the commander announced. "The rest of you, continue with your work in case anything else is found." He pushed his gas pedal and forced the Raynos to take off, leaving a thin track of cloudy air behind it. The green zoid gradually slowed down as a Guysting pilot could be seen waving his arms, standing next to the dark dome-shaped cave. His arm movements stopped as the massive pteranodon descended onto its hind legs. Its pilot jumped out and firmed the placement of his hat. Once comfortable with his appearance, he looked around at the desolate forest. "Now isn't this place a beauty?"

Ragnarok quit his thought trailing instantly and moved up to the cave. He tried to keep his eyes locked on to it but couldn't as they drifted from his trooper and back. That rang something in his mind as this trooper had a solid history behind him.

"You wouldn't happen to be a former archaeologist would you?" the commander queried. He knew he must've seen this man's red hair in one of their labs prior to the Backdraft's recent set of problems.

"I was for twelve years before I signed up under you. That damn president owed me tons for the damage his government did to my credit." Ragnarok whistled.

"That's certainly a familiar tale," he reassured, "since you're in good company." But now was not the time to get into personal back stories. Moving further forward, Ragnarok noticed that the pilot was not following. He twisted his neck to look at him and jerked his head forward. The man just looked at him and pointed at himself. "Yes, you. I may need a man of your kind of knowledge." So they both went inside.

To say that it was dark was an understatement – everything became pitch black as they went further. Ragnarok had come prepared for this by flashing on a soft lighting system installed on his coat's right sleeve. No one else visibly noticed it before due to its bluish colors blending in with the rest of his attire.

And in the end no one else would question him for having it since he knew he would accomplish something today.

"They sell coats with that kind of equipment?" the pilot asked.

Oh the irony.

"People with authority get special reserves," answered Ragnarok. "Now let's keep moving. I'd rather not waste time." Taken aback by the commander's harshness, he kept quiet for most of the way.

Bats fluttered about as their senses picked up the presence of intruders. Both of the men were careful to make sure their faces stayed clear of the animals. Some of them were accidentally swatted down and Ragnarok cursed themselves for it. As dark as he was deep down, he never believed in dishing out pain unless it was deserved and for a good cause. However, the further they went, the more small amounts of light became visible. This was in addition to the decreasing waves of bats flying about. Soon things became bright enough that they could turn off the lighting on the coat. And as the darkness completely vanished they could see what it was giving off such a long-reaching glow.

As they reached the light's source, an enormous statue of a priestess holding a torch of about half her size stood high up on a pedestal in a large room. Its beauty served as the dividing line between two sets of wall-writing. The commander gasped at the sight in front of him, having never before seen something so magnificent. But the former archaeologist was even more intrigued. While Ragnarok stood his ground, he moved in towards the words and pictures carved into the ragged walls. He had seen this language in books and on online networks but never in person.

The red-haired man took out his personal magnifying glass that he always carried around with him and further analyzed the wall's subscripts and textures. The documentation of these would surely create revenue that most would dream of. Meanwhile, Ragnarok flipped his earpiece on and dialed for The Count.

"Hello?" came in the dark voice.

"I believe I have found what it was you were hinting at," the commander informed. "To be honest, I'm not quite sure what to make of it."

"Then describe to me what it is you see." A few seconds of silence commenced as Ragnarok tried to think up the best possible description of the room he and his fellow trooper stood in.

"I'm standing at the entrance of this brightly lit room within a cave that one of our soldiers discovered. Directly in front of me is a statue of what seems to be a saint. Next to it are two sets of walls that…"

He moved closer to the other man and squinted his eyes at the writing.

"…have an ancient language imbued on them."

"An ancient language?" The Count had heard of several ancient languages, some more prominent throughout Zi's history than others. He knew there was one that stood out in particular but couldn't recall what it was called. "Elaborate."

Not wanting to pressure his eyes even more, Ragnarok had a better idea.

"I'll let our other man here do the explaining." So he took out his earpiece and handed it over to the still self-absorbed pilot. Reversing his concentration, The Count started hearing the explanation. The Backdraft lord was easily able to take in all the facts and minor details as they each rang a bell.

"Interesting," The Count muttered. "Put your commander back on." The Backdraft pilot complied and gave the earpiece back. "I actually know what this language is since I used to study it back during my younger years. It's called the ancient Zoidian language."

"The ancient Zoidian language?" The Backdraft commander stared at the wall again in slight surprise. Meanwhile, the former archaelogist chirped up at Ragnarok's words. "So they actually left something behind."

"A race as profound as them was destined to," his leader said. "Now we'll have to find a way to translate what's there."

"No need to worry since I've already found one," Ragnarok sneered, looking at his still-enthused follower.

"Good. Then get to it immediately. We know those rulers in the government are fast thinkers." The Count then instantly cut off the line before the commander hung up.

"Looks like you and I have some work to do in here." The pilot was initially confused at his commander's words until he thought about the situation. It also helped the he felt the front end of a Desert Eagle pistol resting on the back of his head.

"But…But I don't even fully know this language yet! And I'm one of your men," he cried.

"Well that just blows, doesn't it?" Ragnarok continued to grind the gun against the red hair teasingly. "Do what you can. The Count said we don't have all the time in the world." Using his free hand, the Backdraft leader ripped out a small sheet of paper from one of his notebooks and handed it to the man, who was left to do his best to translate.

_I don't like using this method_, the commander thought, _but I need results as soon as possible._

* * *

Ven was in an unfortunate situation to say the least. It turned out that other security guards in the base had caught site of what was happening outside and noticed Thomas 'giving in' to him. They currently surrounded both of them and took them up by their arms. Both of them were feuding about what was happening.

"Wait," yelled Thomas, "I was teaching him a lesson!"

"I'm sure you were. A lesson about how vulnerable you are, that is," one of his colleagues flamed. "Now quit squirming around! We're fed up with you making us look like a laughing stock."

Ven however wasn't saying anything. He just wanted to be free. Liger Zero was thinking about doing something but didn't want to make a scene. Besides, these people seemed a lot less harmful than Thomas.

"And it is against the rules to assault other government employees or fugitives. You know this."

Both Ven and Thomas were taken away and were sent to Malcolm via Bioraptors. He had already heard about the issue and was very much upset with them, especially Ven. Not finishing assigned work from the president is an act of defiance that will not meet pretty consequences. And he had some ideas in mind.

It wasn't long at all before they reached the Zi Tower and were shoved into the old man's office. They were sat in the second seats of each zoid and were forced to not talk. As much as Ven didn't like having to speak with Malcolm again, at least one of the other people against him got into serious trouble as well.

_Perhaps this will show him._

The other security guards abruptly shut the door behind them once they entered the office and waltzed away. Loud lectures were something that the president didn't want others to hear if they didn't have to. He always said that overhearing them could leave others 'spoiled.' Surprises were always great fun to him.

He turned his seat around and eyed two chairs for them to sit in. Ven and Thomas got the message and bolted for the seats, neatly arranging them in front of Malcolm.

"Well, it seems you have picked up some manners," the president analyzed, referring to Ven. "But it also seems that you lack some."

"Definitely," Thomas agreed.

"I didn't ask for your thoughts," he sharply threw. "I'll get to you soon." The old man took a sip from his coffee. "Now, what I mean by lack some is that you just can't help but be complicated. First you trespass, then you take control of the Liger Zero, and now you're ditching an assignment I gave you. I also don't like it when my men are made fools of at the same time."

"It's not all my fault," Ven whined. "He should've been there to tell me I had more work to do, and I personally did nothing to make him honor me."

"You did nothing?" Malcolm doubted. "You know, as a young man who snuck around the city's tightest security, you must be pretty smart and clever. Only a person like that can manipulate one of my guards and unclearly lie about it later."

"I told you I did nothing!"

"SILENCE," boomed his voice. "You do not ever yell in front of the president like that!" All Ven could do was snarl under his breath. Unlike yesterday, he wasn't about to be pushed around by this old man, regardless of who he was. "When you speak to me, you do so respectfully."

"I'm sorry," Ven apologized. "All I'm trying to say is that I'm just a lucky kid. Nothing more. If I was smart like that, I would've done a lot more around here." Malcolm took note of that last statement and decided to use it against him.

"So you're even more of a could-be criminal is what you're saying?" And Ven instantly wanted to take back what he just said.

"Er, no, I didn't mean it like that…" the teenager stuttered. He hadn't thought about how careful he would have to be when picking what he wanted to say. "I just meant that I would be more creative with the things I do." Malcolm stared him down through the top tip of his glasses. Suspicion was written everywhere in his eyes.

"That's such a simple answer with no idea behind it. Which is why you'll be getting additional work." Very surprisingly to Malcolm, Ven was much more accepting of work this time since he was awake now. "You're not protesting? Maybe you've obtained more manners than I thought." But at the same time, the young pilot was growling in his mind. "Good. Now as for you, Thomas…"

The guard was visibly shaking. His pay had already been deducted, so what would await him this time?

"Explain yourself," the president ordered. For a while the blue-haired man didn't know what to say until he came up with something.

"I just got carried away is all."

"Carried away? CARRIED AWAY?!" The head of Zi's governing body became furious almost beyond belief. "When you signed the contract to serve under me, you specifically agreed that you would keep yourself under control!" The guard swallowed and cringed back in his chair. "But besides that, what was it that caught your attention?"

Thomas had to summon up a lot of courage to speak. But that was not a new thing for him.

"I just didn't think this kid was the Liger Zero's pilot."

That brought the older man's mind back to one thing: the fact that one of the most undeserving people in the world can effectively pilot his prized zoid.

_His_ prized zoid.

He turned away and placed his hands on his face, slowly letting them drip down towards his stomach. Thomas however was jumping to his own conclusions. Given the president's reaction to his response, he figured he was relieved of any further punishment.

"So am I clear?" the guard asked. Malcolm turned back to look at him with his fingers on his chin. He didn't quite know how to respond.

"That's a tough call. Regardless, you are still in violation. But I suppose in your position, there may not have been much you could have done." Thomas very much liked where this sounded like it was headed. "However, since both of you have gotten yourselves into problems, I may arrange something between you two."

The teenager and the guard jumped at those words.

"WHAT?!" they both shouted at the top of their lungs.

"I just said there is no shouting!"

"But Sir," Thomas complained, "you can't seriously expect me to work with this kid! He'd only get in the way-"

"Get in the way?!" Ven intervened. "I single-handedly dealt with those Backdraft zoids yesterday."

"Oh please…"

"He has a point, Thomas," Malcolm reassured. "And I highly doubt you want your pay further reduced. So I suggest that you comply with what I say." He rocked about in his chair as he waited for the two younger men to take their seats once again. Just like him, both were visibly irritated with the situation. Neither of them could see any progress being made if they worked together.

Amidst the arguing, however, a faint yelling could be heard, one that was shockingly recognizable. The noise grew closer and closer until it was right on the other side of the office's door. It passed by before suddenly coming back and seemed to remain in place. The door then opened to reveal Zanzer with Aero being held in his arms.

"Mr. President, I found this little kid trying to infiltrate in here. What do you wish to do with him?"

Ven instantly recognized Zanzer's commanding voice, but didn't realize Aero was in the picture until he turned to take a look at who had just entered. He wasn't just shocked at seeing the two together but more or less horrified. His adopted brother saw him and called out.

"Ven! There you are! I couldn't leave you alone, so I followed you."

The pilot swiftly brought an index finger to his mouth to tell Aero to be quiet. He didn't want things to be pushed from terrible to worse, though that seemed inevitable now. Malcolm and Zanzer took note of the younger individual's outburst and never knew that the silver-haired teenager was associated with another troublemaker.

"So Mr. Night," the president sinisterly started, "you actually know this person?"

"Ummmmm… Errrrrrrrr…" the teenager mumbled, trying to find an explanation that would keep things low. "He's… Oh, let's see, what's he to me…"

"Ven is my older brother," Aero blurted out. Ven practically froze as all eyes locked on to him.

_Goddamnit Aero!_

"Your brother?" Malcolm suggested. His face then shifted into a grin. "Then I suppose he will get involved in this as well." Ven didn't know what the president was referring to and was nervous to find out. "Come to think of it, I do have something arranged for the now three of you."

_And to think I originally thought this was going to be a good and peaceful day…_

"Zanzer," he began, the head guard giving his full attention, "Bring me our latest status report from last night. Leave the little kid here." Zanzer nodded and placed Aero down, who walked over to Ven. The older teen initially didn't want to give him any attention at first. The blonde guard left and soon came back holding two sheets of paper. Malcolm took both of them and laid them flat out on his desk separately. One was a map of a forest region while the other next to it was a written report by a pilot who had flown over it. "See this area here?" He put his finger on a large spot highlighted in green. "It's called the Pandora Forest. Given what this report here says, there are several valuable resources to be collected here. However, his zoid's camera technology is long past dated, so I will need you guys to confirm that there is actually anything there before we roll in Gustavs."

"What flying zoids will we have out our disposal?" Thomas queried. The answer he got was a bit surprising to him.

"Flying zoids?" the old man laughed. "No, those would make this a tad too easy. When I give missions or work for punishment, I don't make them something a person out on the streets can do. That is why I am going to have you use your own zoids. Your _ground_ zoids. Or landzoids, whatever you wish to call them."

Both Ven and Thomas remained silent. They looked at the map and instantly took note of the fact that the forest was several hundred miles away.

"But Sir, it's going to take us hours to arrive and then come back," the guard cried. Malcolm whistled in response.

"Defiance means this is what you get," he implied. "And as for _you_…" he switched his attention back to Ven, "I want no severe damage done to my Liger Zero. Is that understood?" The teenager nodded but was surprised at the same time.

"So you're now officially declaring me its pilot?"

"Now let's not jump to conclusions. All I'm interested in seeing is some of its other capabilities. And how well you handle the zoid could also be interesting and a part of your punishment."

Besides the fact that Thomas was involved, Ven felt confident about this mission. He would be using the Liger Zero after all, whose trust he had gained.

"You three are dismissed. Take these papers with you." The sheets were abruptly shoved into Thomas's hands as he initially fumbled to hold them. "You will likely easily get lost without them."

Zanzer stepped out of the way so that the trio could leave. But before Ven walked out, Malcolm issued another statement.

"The little kid here will have to ride with one of you since I do not trust he will not do anything crazy around here. He already has somewhat of a trespassing history as well."

Ven and Thomas said nothing and looked away from each other as they exited the office. Aero was tempted to say something but looked at their facial expressions and figured it would be best if he kept quiet.

Now that Zanzer and the president were alone, they started their own conversation.

"Do you really think Ven and Thomas will be able to work well together?" Zanzer wondered.

"We'll just have to see. I'm sure they'll pull of something." The head guard couldn't help but notice the president's low tone of voice.

* * *

Ven and Aero were back at the base where the Liger Zero was, preparing to leave. Thomas had split ways with them since he held his Dibison, or BEEK, in a private sector. They were more than happy to leave each other too, even if they would only be away from each other for a few minutes. The teenage pilot could already predict the chemistry that would boil between them during this mission as Aero and their zoids listened.

Speaking of which, Aero never got the chance to witness the Liger Zero as an individual. The thought crossed Ven's mind as his brother would be hearing him communicate with the feline zoid.

"_Now what?"_ Liger already sensed a response that he wouldn't like.

"More work, that's what," his pilot replied. "Except this time you're involved." Now the zoid was intrigued. What could possibly be awaiting him?

"_Really? So what are we doing?"_

"You and me have to travel to a forest that is approximately one thousand miles away." If it was possibly his jaw would've dropped.

"_WHAT?! So I'm going to have to go out into a wasteland again??!!"_ The zoid roared, startling Aero immensely. Ven had gotten used to it.

"Wait, so, Ven…" the prepubescent kid tugged his brother's arm. "You can actually talk with it?" Ven feared this question but knew he was going to have to answer it sooner or later.

"Well, to put it simply, yeah…" he said, almost sighing.

"Wow," Aero lighted up with his eyes seemingly shining. "That's so cool! My brother can actually talk to the coolest zoid in the world! Wicked sweet!" And as annoyed as the zoid was about the work that was assigned, he couldn't help but take in the flattery and laugh at it.

"_The kid likes me," _Liger stated. _"I guess I oughta like him in return."_

"Yup, because he's coming with us."

"_He is? But why?" _Ven looked down at his still delighted brother by his side, contorting his eyes.

"Well apparently he decided to cause trouble even though I told him to go back home."

"_Hey, he was just showing you some concern I bet."_

"Mmmhmmm," Ven grumbled, still unhappy about what Aero had done. He wanted his adopted brother to stay safe, not get involved in his problems too. "Anyway, we need to get going."

"_Someone's already getting better _and _growing up,"_ the zoid joked as he lowered his head. Ven smirked as the hatch moved up and assisted Aero in climbing up into the backseat. Once he got himself settled into the pilot's seat, the safety harnesses came down at the same time as the hatch. Zero stood up to its full glory and growled. The men at the base opened up the entrance gate due to receiving a message from Malcolm that the legendary zoid would be departing.

Ven directed Liger Zero out of the base and towards the spot where he and Thomas agreed they would meet up. Aero couldn't believe what he was experiencing. He had never seen as much of the city as he was seeing now. However, he didn't realize he would be seeing so much more beyond his imagination.

In fact, no one did.

* * *

**Anyone who regularly follows what ITman496 posts on DA will probably notice that I have some explaining to do. Aero is the one original character that is not mine. I just have permission to use this character. If you like him, give ITman496 some love.**

**And to clear things up, the Pandora forest is the same one that Ragnarok is in. **

**Stay tuned!**


	8. Plans and Strikes Part 3

**Author's Note:** Yes, people, I'm finally back. I'm gonna try to be writing this as much as I can now, but I'll have to see what life let's me do. Anyways, enjoy! :)

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters (excluding Aero) and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**Plans and Strikes Part 3**

Liger Zero moved through Remma as Ven weeved him through and around the city. Aero continuously sat up in his seat and bursted out with various 'oohs' and 'aahs.' Taking in all the visuals of everything he saw was a big thing to him. Despite trouble he had caused here, the outside world was still exactly that: an outside world. He wanted to see all there was, much to his older brother's current dismay. The pilot always used to spend a lot of time with him and could still never get used to his immaturity.

"Aero," the teenager grunted as a smaller hand tugged at the back of his hair, "would you please just settle down." Unfortunately, the younger teenager paid him no attention.

"Woooooooooooowwwww! Ven, look at all the tall, tall buildings! They're everywhere!" Aero pressed his face against the wall, smearing a goofy expression against it. Ven was only happy that no one outside could see what his brother was doing.

"Yes, I see them. I've been around here enough." As he said this, he couldn't help but think of how long these next few hours were going to be. Working with Thomas and Aero with Liger and BEEK making wisecracks occasionally? It was the perfect formula, the formula designed so that he would get the punishment that he 'deserved.'

Several minutes passed by until the feline could see a Dibison not too far down the street. Ven had forgotten to tell his companion that BEEK and Thomas were going to accompany them.

"_What's with the Dibison in the middle of nowhere?"_

"It's BEEK," the teenager replied. "He and the other guy that was beating me up earlier are coming with us."

"_I guess that's deserved, though I feel sorry for BEEK,"_ Liger sympathized. He now had a better idea of what the bison was talking about earlier. His situation was the prime example of 'nailing two jerks with one stone.'

Thomas held a sharp and straight face as he watched the legendary zoid approach him. His eyes remained locked on to it as though he still couldn't comprehend how some no-one off the streets managed to get their hands tightly around the Liger Zero's controls. He himself had worked hard for his position while his co-worker for today had done nothing prior to their first meeting yesterday. The thoughts made him feel increasingly bitter towards the teenager since Ven had caused him trouble as well. And things had only seemingly begun.

Ven's face was in a similar condition. He already knew based on what he had seen before that this could possibly get ugly between him and the guard. Attempting to keep his cool was all the two of them could do. Then there was Aero to take into account as well. That kid's personality would likely complicate things.

"So do you still have the map?" Ven asked. Thomas's face displayed in front of him and showed the map. The teenager looked at it carefully to see the path they would be taking. "Well, Liger, looks like we'll be avoiding deserts. There's like a lot of urban territory."

"_Thank God,"_ he moaned happily.

"We'll have to be careful when moving through, though," Thomas assured, "especially since you and your unrightful trophy are going to be walking around."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard it." Ven rolled his eyes. "Now let's go."

The security guard's face disappeared, allowing the two younger individuals to get a look at BEEK again.

"_So _you _guys are the reason why he's been so pissy…" _The Dibison sneered. He always took great pleasure in knowing that his pilot was getting a taste of his own medicine.

"_My guy got him busted apparently."_

"_Kudos to him."_

Before they could continue exchanging with each other, The blue-haired man forced his zoid to turn around and head off in the opposite direction. Ven, Liger Zero, and Aero followed them as they took off towards the long hours that lay ahead. The very long hours, that is.

* * *

The Backdraft zoids still continued waltzing straight through what remained of the forest. Tree stumps were littered everywhere, accompanied by the dead bodies of the animals that inhabited them. Most of the pilots didn't even notice the damage that had been done. That, or they cared less. They had been trained to be ruthless when working on property of the Zoids Battle Commission. And the man who organized these programs to sway their mind like this was none other than their commander, Ragnarok.

As a matter of fact, he was somewhat trying to train the man in front of him as well.

"So let us see what we have now," he demanded, looking over to see the progress the former archaeologist had made. He made sure to still keep his gun in a tight grip in case the trooper had some other idea up his sleeve. "'The darkest of days shall determine my wake,'" the slip read, "'for when they are bestowed upon the world, I will be called to by the one that is rightful.'" The commander kept on squinting at the translated words, trying to make sense out of them.

"This is all I could decipher. It's been years since I last did any research pertaining to this language. Even during my prime, I didn't really know much more."

This, however, forced Ragnarok into a rage.

"This is it?" he boomed. "THIS IS IT? I PUT MY TRUST INTO YOU ONLY TO GET BOOTED?" And at that, he reached back up to his full height and turned around before swatting the back of the pilot's head with the Desert Eagle. If he ever needed to vent, he always took it out on those of a lower status than him. "DAMMIT!" he roared, his voice echoing throughout the cave. Any bats that hadn't moved flew away once his sinister nature resonated. "Aaaaarrrrrggghhh!"

Meanwhile, the man had to pick himself up off the ground. The blow to his head would likely leave a bruise that would last a while. He twisted himself to get a look at Ragnarok, who had his eyes facing the rocky surface with a defeated expression. That was until a certain thought came into his mind.

"Wait a second," the blue-coated man bellowed, rushing him against the ragged walls. "Do you know if any of the other pilots with us have knowledge of this language?" Sensing the commander's unmerciful nature, the archaeologist came up with an answer.

"There's ummm…a few others out there I've heard know a thing or two about it."

"What are their zoid numbers?" That one took some thinking.

"Zero-four-seventy-six and one-two-forty-five. They're both in Guystings."

Comfortable that he got all the information he needed, he let the former archaeologist go and backed away. Again, to make sure nothing would happen, Ragnarok pointed his gun.

"You stay here," he ordered. "If I come back here and see that you're gone, I'll be making an example of you during our future training programs." Before the man could absorb everything his commander said, he was left all alone. The Backdraft leader had sprinted off into the outside forest in the hopes that he would get the results he needed.

But the red-haired pilot had much different things in mind.

"What a fool." He grabbed his nose with his hand and pulled off the mask he was wearing. His silver hair immediately streaked out. The light of the candles glistened off of them, giving off a vibe unlike anything else. "You think you and your Count are going to find success here," Ken laughed. "Too bad your guests are going to beat you to the prize. The real prize."

Ken trudged out of the cave on his own so that he would not be noticed. Being seen would just spoil things. He knew what was going to happen later – he just wanted a better view of it.

* * *

Unlike how they were going to feel about what they would see later, Ven and Aero were amazed by the sights around them. To some extent, so was Liger Zero, but he had been out and around much more than the two of them. Due to the hardships their family had faced, they never really got the chance to see what cities lay beyond Remma. This was their first opportunity as they were greeted by different-looking trees and older structures. Deep down, Ven was feeling some of Aero's excitement, but he wanted to be more mature about it. If he wasn't, he knew his brother would later harp on him about him being 'grown-up' earlier.

At the same time, the sunlight slightly died down over the hours. Midday had seemingly approached fast as the two pilots did whatever they could to remain silent among each other. It caught the feline's attention as this was the first time he had seen Ven awake and hardly talk at all at the same time. It took him a while to notice since he and BEEK held their own chatter here and there.

"_Are you okay in there?"_ the zoid queried.

"Yeah," Ven answered, "it's just that today has been much less than what I had hoped."

"_No shock there. I kind of feel the same since I was seemingly tossed straight into action as soon as I reentered this world."_

The teenager laughed. Aero, however, became curious. What was Ven talking about?

"Hey, Brother," Aero piped, "Did something happen?" The question caught his older brother's attention as it made him think of a way to respond.

"A lot. We'll keep it at that," the pilot said flatly. He knew that anything that would start chatter with the young kid would quickly turn out to be something he soon would wish he never said.

"Awwwwwww…" Aero moaned. "But I wanna know!"

"Of course you do. You want to know everything." The young kid humphed as he realized he wasn't going to get anything out of his brother.

"Why does everything have to be a mystery to me?"

"Isn't that what makes life fun?" Before Aero could reply, Thomas's face digitally itself displayed in front of Ven.

"You'll have to cut the chatter for now, you two. I've got a strange status lead on the Pandora Forest. Looks like something has been brewing up." It became evident in the guard's voice that he was concerned about something. Something suspicious in a forest? That never happened. However, the guard was thankful that they had satellites that could display clear pictures of certain sectors.

"Send me the data. I'll take a look at it myself." The blue-haired pilot did not at all approve of how comfortable his much younger companion was becoming. It was a sign that things were rapidly changing at a pace he likely wasn't ready for.

Ven looked down at his monitor and stared at the picture of the forest from up above. Aero peered over his seat to look with him and couldn't exactly identify what was going on.

"Is that smoke?" Ven questioned.

"It may be, which means we'll have to be extra careful when arriving there."

"_Let me guess,"_ Zero guttered, _"another fight's going to happen, right?"_

"Hopefully not. I get the feeling it could become a daily thing for us at this rate."

"_Grrrrrrr. I mean, I like action, but I want to familiarize myself with this whole new world first."_

"_Hey,"_ BEEK jumped in, _"at least you're not a deprived zoid like me!"_

"_I've only been doing what for how long?"_

The humans ignored the banter that proceeded between the two zoids and forced them to keep moving forward. Whatever was ahead would at least be worth informing the president of, and perhaps it would cut them free of any future work if this was huge. Or so Thomas and Ven hoped. It wasn't until they were only ten miles away from the forest that Thomas was able to gather further information about what was happening.

The security guard received another image with a much improved resolution. This time he didn't have to squint his eyes as he stared at the rising dark clouds. Ven quickly received the same image from him and knew something would be coming up.

"Looks like we may be having some fun today, you two," the teenage pilot informed. Zero dreaded those words. His younger brother, however, shot up.

"Fun? We're gonna get to have fun? YAY!" Ven felt like covering his ears due to the loud burst of excitement behind him.

"Not like that, Aero. This could be dangerous!" Aero then died down instantly and frowned.

"Oh…"

Ven and Thomas slowed the feline and the bison down as the smoke entered their range of visibility.

"_What the hell?"_ the zoids muttered.

* * *

Ragnarok kept on desperately looking around for the Guystings. The commander flew around above the desolate ground in his Raynos, keeping his eyes locked on the surface. The Raynos's radar system had an exclusive Backdraft implementation that allowed it to also be able to identify the zoid numbers of any zoids it detects. This would make things several times easier and more efficient. At least that's what his false hope was telling him.

The two Guystings were found very quickly, seemingly clustered in between groups of other Backdraft zoids. Ragnarok initiated a video transmission to them. The pilots stopped what they were doing and looked at their commander. They were shocked to see him flying about since they heard he was doing another investigation nearby.

"I've gathered you two know something about the Zoidian language, am I correct?" the desperate man asked. They both responded with a 'yes' simultaneously. "Good then. Follow my trail." Neither of them understood the situation, but given the commander's tone, they knew something wasn't going completely right.

There was hardly any travel time at all when arriving at the cave once again. The three parked their zoids and jumped out. The two pilots had the sun reflecting off their black suits and helmets as they stared at the dark entrance.

"There is no time to be wasted," Ragnarok assured. "I've already got The Count betting on me." He wasted no time in moving inside once again. They were tempted to ask him questions but lost the chance. What was on his mind?

Both of them were taken aback by the sudden amount of bats that hit them. They had all returned and were not happy with their home being intruded a second time. It annoyed the animals further that the flashlights the Backdraft men were holding shot out light that disturbed their silence. A peaceful day gone horrible. Ragnarok, however, didn't care at all about how they felt, especially when he got back to the room with the statue and the writing.

"No…" he sighed. "I told him to stay here and he didn't listen!" He kept telling himself that it definitely would've helped a ton to have a third guy to assist. "Whatever, I'll deal with him later."

The dark commander turned to his followers as they just caught up. He smirked when he saw their shocked faces as the two pilots looked up at the sights in front of them. The area for sure was a beauty and unlike anything they had ever seen before.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" he said, grabbing their attention again. "But we're not here to stare. You two see that wall over there? With the ancient hand-written garble on it?" He pointed to the wall where he last saw the red-haired man. "I've been told you are both capable of making sense of it."

Not having it in them to say anything, all they did was nod in response. The sudden order to follow the commander, plus his current attitude made them feel nervous. But Ragnarok did not perceive how they were feeling.

"Quiet types, eh? That's a good thing then, since you guys seem to know how to get work done."

He snapped his fingers with his pointed hand, giving the immediate order to start translating the text. As the echo died down, both Backdraft men got to the wall and knealed down in front of it. They were expecting the task to be much simpler than it actually was. It took them completely by surprise when they noticed the text could be interpreted in several different ways with different meanings. Despite what Ragnarok and the Count had been hoping for, this was going to be a time-demanding job.

"Oh boy…" one of them groaned.

"Yup," muttered the other.

"What's going on?"

The first pilot twisted himself so as to view the Backdraft leader trudging towards them. He felt his nervousness slightly boiling up but did whatever he could not to show it. Displaying negative feelings in front of any kind of authority figure was seen as a huge sign of weakness in the Backdraft Group.

"This is a lot more complicated than we expected."

"Well what did you two expect? A beginner-level translation job?"

"No, but at the same time, even when translated, it doesn't sound like anything else." Becoming intrigued, Ragnarok wanted to hear what this would be like.

"Then try to tell me part of what it says."

"That's the difficult part, in that this could be translated into different meanings."

"Well try me real quick."

The pilot was clearly unsure about this as he hesitated for a bit.

"'To walk a path, one must be a path. Is your mind among mine? If so, it must wait in line.'"

The commander took a second to rub his chin. He tried to determine what was meant by the translation in combination with what he had heard before but could come up with nothing.

"That's not all of it of course, just a small sample. But if I look at it more, I could say other things as well."

"In that case, keep going." He handed his translators small sheets and a pen so that they could document the information. "For all we know, we should be able to make something of this."

Both of them took the sheets hesitantly with doubtful expressions on their faces. Whatever things were really up to around here, they weren't too sure what to make of them.

"Anyway," the translated proceeded to recite, "'I've met me many an unproven cutter. Those had a mind made of butter. But I regret, because they made a bitter image of me.'"

The other man started to chuckle while he was taking notes. However, Ragnarok was far from pleased with the results he was getting.

"What the hell is this supposed to be?" he demanded, looking down at the two with irritation in his eyes. Another failure of any kind and he would be ridden of his position. The Backdraft organization would have none of it.

"Like I said, there's more to be obtained from this. Depending on how you learned the language, you could interpret it differently. Its just the way we've learned it has churned out the best results in the past."

"It certainly isn't amounting to anything right now," the commander emphasized. "Beyond that, it does sound like someone is talking to us through this."

"Maybe," was the reply he got. "Our studies have told us that the ancient Zoidians had a passion for writing personal documentations."

"So this could either be worth a lot or very little?"

"Yup."

"Great," he growled. The forty-five-year-old turned to another section of the wall and pounded his fist on it. His contorted face echoed his deep frustration building up within him again. This was initially supposed to be an easy task, but then everything went wrong. Once he regained himself he muttered, "You two do what you can. We can't leave here with nothing."

"We've already got something," said the second pilot laughingly. No one in the room was pleased.

"Thanks for pointing for pointing out the obvious," Ragnarok taunted. He breathed and adjusted himself to look at the Backdraft pilots again. "Anyway, no time-wasting! Keep to it!"

"Yessir," both of them lowly responded. They stared once again at the text and did their best to translate it.

* * *

"Let's take this slowly," Thomas recommended to Ven. He was not at all unfamiliar with zoid-battling. As a teenager, he used to participate in several tournaments around the globe and won himself trophies in some competitions. To him, those were the days. But he was not yet fully accustomed to life-and-death situations.

Feelings still resonated between the two pilots. As much as Ven didn't want to admit it though, he would currently have to listen to Thomas to a certain extent. _Only_ that much.

The Dibison's pilot gathered more images and was completely distraught by what he saw.

"You've got to be kidding me," he whined. Without thinking he sent the screenshots to Ven. The teenager didn't feel much different.

"Yikes…"

"_So whatcha got now?"_ Zero asked. In some ways he was excited and in some ways he wasn't. He loved to participate in action, but he still wanted to have the time to absorb everything that he'd been exposed to so far. It was like being in a new home with no time to adjust.

"Hopefully these things won't make a wreck out of us," Ven implied.

"'_Thought so." _BEEK was seeing things in a different light though.

"_Well at least you'll get further warm-up time now for anything else that may happen later."_

"_You're awfully confident that bad stuff will happen."_

"_I've been active in this world for a long time. Trust me, I know,"_ the zoid reassured. Zero still felt indifferent. At the same time, Ven was doing whatever he could to concentrate and to ignore Aero's pessimistic childishness.

"Backdraft zoids are here?" the preteen remarked. "NO! I wanna go back! We'll die!"

"Just cut it already," Ven commanded, looking at his brother with selfish eyes. Aero squirmed backwards in his seat. "We'll be fine. Remember, we're in the _legendary Liger Zero_. Got it?"

"_Was that sarcasm?"_

"Not even."

The zoids continued to stroll towards the dying forest slowly. Keeping a low profile was important so that they could not be detected. That's why Thomas deployed a stealth shield. It had been upgraded in the past few years, allowing it to be utilized on both the zoid equipped with it and any zoids designated as allies. He needed to use it, because once a Backdraft pilot finds them as they are, they're as good as practice targets.

"_Since when did you have this new perk?"_ Zero queried. Everyone else was being updated while he was still the same.

"_This guy won it as a prize in a gambling event. It's weird what these humans get themselves involved in."_

"_It's only doing us some good."_

Ven, on the other hand, was somewhat shocked by Thomas's move. The young guard was actually willing to help him out here.

"Listen, Kid, this is just a temporary thing. Don't let it get to your head," he affirmed. Some things were starting to look like a love/hate relationship in the teen's mind.

"Man, that never happens!" The feline would have rolled his eyes if he could've.

"_Right…"_

"Anyway," Thomas redirected, "just follow my lead. We have to complete this mission. If we come back with nothing to say, the president will have our heads."

Now with a sense of security, Ven and Thomas pushed their zoids into the cut-up trees. They did whatever they could to make their footsteps as light as possible. The less visible their traces were, the less chances they had of being discovered. It was common zoid-piloting knowledge. Thomas also knew how to identify areas that would reflect glares the most by constantly analyzing the heat temperatures around him. The higher it was, the more concentrated glares would be. Their zoids' figures would then become distinct. But given how many Backdraft zoids there were in the area, that would hardly be relevant.

Almost seeming to be uncaring about the situation, Aero popped his head over Ven's seat and looked at what was in front of them. From their current position behind a few trees that were still intact they could see black Guystings and Connecteses moving about, plowing down whatever remained. The Backdraft zoids' pilots were clearly in search of something.

"We're…dead. We're dead…" Aero mumbled. This time, Ven chose to just ignore him. He hoped and prayed he wouldn't start crying any time soon, as that would serve as a huge distraction for the task at hand.

_Resources…_ Ven thought. _If there were any here, looks like we were beaten to them._

"Hey, Thomas," Ven messaged to the guard. "Is there any way for me to contact the president from here? You know, to tell him about what's going on?"

"Nope," he responded with resentment. "All channels are blocked off. 'Must be due to Backdraft wave interference. And even if you could, these guys here would pick our signals anyway, Amateur." Any positive feelings Liger's pilot had towards his teammate quickly vanished with that response.

"Sheesh, be that way," the silver-haired teen whispered.

"_Your pilot has some extreme personality issues, BEEK,"_ Liger Zero growled quietly so that they wouldn't be noticed.

"_Tell me about it. Every now and then, he uses me to take out his feelings in certain situations. He makes me look stupid while doing so."_

They kept on moving amongst what was left of the dying landscape. No one in the group could believe the damage that had been done to the once beautiful area. What surprised them even more, though, was the sheer number of Guystings and Connecteses that were here.

"What is really going on here anyway? Any idea Zero?" Now that the zoid thought about it, he was getting a strange sensation particularly from some place nearby.

"_It feels like there's something out-of-the-ordinary in this place,"_ his zoid commented. _"Whatever it is this time, it's unlike anything I've ever felt. No hints there."_

"We'll just have to keep on moving then until you pick up something, or unless we spot something."

"_What is there to find here at this rate?"_

"Good question." Now that he and Thomas were left in the dark, his confidence went down quite some. And being stuck in a deathly situation with someone who hates you? Sounds pleasant.

Luck would finally have it when the Liger Zero and the Dibison stumbled upon three Guystings and a Raynos parked in front of a cave's entrance. They stayed hidden behind several tall Zi trees in case something went wrong.

"Anything now?" Ven asked.

"_Yup, definitely. Whatever is in there is giving off a REALLY powerful aura."_

"_I can feel it too,"_ BEEK jumped in. _"That's not very usual of me either."_

"_Since when could integrated AIs like you sense things?"_

"_It comes with years and experience, Mate. Get with it."_

"_I don't think I'll ever be able to,"_ the white feline joked.

"_Haha,"_ BEEK groaned, _"very funny."_

"Jeez, these zoids are being noisesome," the guard finally complained. Ven heard him since they kept the video relay online. They had kept it on mute, but Thomas decided to turn the option off. "Do they not know the importance of being silent right now."

"Mine's the same way," Ven threw in, "you'll get used to it."

"_No he won't. Hell, I don't think you have," _Liger commented.

"Don't push me buddy." Thomas misinterpreted that comment as being directed at him.

"You talking to me, Kid?" His tone of voice instantly told Ven that he was offended. In some ways he was proud of that.

"Hm? Ermmm… No."

"You've tried that attitude with me before…"

"ANYWAY," Aero piped, annoyed by the awkwardness of the situation, "how long is it going to take for us to die? I mean, COME ON!"

"Just control yourself, Aero, okay? Like I said, we'll be fine!" But it seemed like the younger kid still wasn't taking in his older brother's words as he hunched back.

"It sure don't look like it," he grumbled, much to Ven's and Thomas's disapproval.

"We _will _succeed, and that's that. Do I make myself clear?"

"That other kid there with you is noisesome as well," the guard threw.

Aero was getting very irritated as well. So much so that while moving his legs around, he accidentally kicked the adjustment switch for Ven's seat. The teenager was suddenly thrusted forward with his hands and head hitting multiple controls.

"_What the hell?"_ Zero roared as he felt his Shock Cannons charge up for a second before shooting out a round of shells. Each one just barely missed the zoids in front of them and hit the cliffside rocks surrounding the cave. (Everybody sweatdrops)

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" Thomas screamed at Ven.

"Hey, don't get mad at me!" The feline's pilot quickly fixed his seat and glared back at Aero, he was still too shocked at what had just happened. Now was when he could no longer restrain his frustration. "Do you see what you just did? Now we probably will die!"

Much to all of their dismay, all the other zoids looked towards the source of the disruption and paused.

"Erm… Eep," mumbled Ven upon spotting the Connecteses that were gradually starting to surround them. Luckily, they remained invisible as some of the enemies passed them by. They watched sizable rock fragments collapse to the ground, slightly scathing the immobile Guystings and Raynos.

_Oh boy_, Ven stressed, _This isn't going to be pretty._

* * *

Ragnarok had been walking back and forth in the room, thinking of all the possible outcomes of today's work. To say the least, he was actually hoping for a little bit more to occur given the rapid amount of progress that was being made. His two 'lackeys,' as he thought of them, had mapped out almost as many notes as they could. Both of them were happy too as they thought about the possible additional rewards that may be awaiting them.

"So this is all we can get I assume?" the leader queried as he kneeled down to take a look at the sheets of paper.

"Yes, it is. We have analyzed the information from every possible angle we could and have come up with this."

Ragnarok skimmed through it and could still not completely pinpoint the meaning behind what it all read. Specific chunks and pieces of it stood out to him as they reminded him of past thoughts from long before. Those were now just small fragments now of what made him up completely and were of no use. But the last line in particular was of great interest to him.

"'Recite this text below once and receive thy blessing of me: my hoped for rebirth,'" he read. Looking at the other two men in the room with him, he wasted no time in proceeding. "Somnus…"

He hesitated briefly in slight anxiety. Neither him nor the two other Backdraft pilots knew what awaited them. Finally, he completed the phrase.

"…Nemoris."

And then there was silence. Complete silence. This was much to the dark surprise of the trio given that they were waiting for something to happen. All three of them complained to each other until the commander caught notice of slight movements in the wall. These gradual stifles quickly picked up the pace to reveal a pitch black darkness behind it. This owed much to the sudden startlement the two Guysting pilots felt, but Ragnarok's emotions were untouched. They were like stone.

"Ummm…Commander," murmured one of them, "I think we ought to be going. It doesn't seem like it's safe in here."

"Nonsense," he declared, whipping out his lighting system again. The illumination from the device displayed, revealing rockier textures on the ground. "I promised the Count that I would get have this assignment accomplished. Besides, I'm sure you both have your own flashlights right? Those are supposed to be standard equipment by now."

With much hesitation due to their insecurity, the duo unsheathed their own flashlights from their belts and turned them on. Neither of them was sure what was going through the Backdraft commander's mind. He had always been a trustworthy man who was deeply loyal to his master. This time around it just seemed as if he was more mentally immersed into his work.

The three of them kept moving forward into the eerie home of several bats. The further and further they traveled, the more ragged in build the dark animals seemed. This was likely because they could only see them for a few seconds since the light scared them off, but things were still becoming creepier. The pathway in front of them also became narrower and harder for them to safely navigate through. After a few minutes, it slowly opened up more to reveal the sight of a massive carving on a large wall. The two followers groaned at the sight of this.

"Does this mean even more work?" they both groaned. Ragnarok wasn't quite sure of how to respond.

"I don't believe so." However, under further examination, he was able to make out what the distinct carving was an image of. "It looks like…a zoid of some sort."

Regaining themselves, one of the pilots analyzed the carving as well and instantly recognized it. "Ooh, I know!"

Ragnarok turned to look towards him with a sarcastic look.

"You know?" he demanded.

"Yes, I do! That's a Konig Wolf!"

"A Konig Wolf," the other two men exclaimed.

"My, my," Ragnarok mused, turning his head back to look at the image of the zoid, "I haven't seen an image of one of these in quite some time."

"Yeah. It was supposedly a powerful zoid back in ancient times. A VERY powerful I've heard."

"Hmmm…"

All three of them kept staring at the image intently. If they could get their hands on what they were thinking, this could be a huge day for the Backdraft Group.

"Well, first things first," announced Ragnarok. He had an idea as to what had to be done next. "SOMNUS NEMORIS!"

Nothing at all happened. They waited a while again just to see if there would be another delayed reaction. Still, the area remained the same, so he tried again.

"SOMNUS NEMORIS!"

This time there seemed to be a response. The walls around them began to make breaking sounds as the roaring of what sounded like an earthquake dominated their senses.

"I knew it wasn't safe in here," cried the helpless translator. He immediately got on the ground and covered his head like a whimpering dog.

"Would you get up," the older one yelled. "You're embarrassing us in front of a famous Backdraft leader!"

The commander remained ignorant to them as he received a message through his earpiece from another one of his men.

"Commander Ragnarok, there seems to be something out here somewhere. Your zoid almost took a direct shot. We're currently investigating the situation as it is."

"Good," he replied. "I'll be out there momentarily. I just need to finish up something here first and then I'll be on my way."

"Roger!"

Cutting off the signal, the Backdraft commander returned his attention to the carving. As he kept on looking at it, he noticed there were several differences compared to it and past imaginations of what the Konig Wolf looked like. Upon further inspection, he could see it had a darker shading and small fins protruding from the upper parts of its sides. There were also big flaps of some sort on its back and extra hoses around its legs.

_We definitely will be getting something special out of this._ He brought his attention back to the men behind him.

"Well, men, as our luck would have it, that wasn't a reaction to those words," the commander informed. They still felt indifferent.

"Then what was that?"

"Apparently, we're being attacked out there. The other pilots out there should be handling it just fine, though."

"Don't tell me my zoid will have to get a new paint job," the more reactive translator complained. His companion lightly hit him in the stomach.

"This is no time for your immaturity!"

"Then when is it time?"

While the duo were about to keep arguing, Ragnarok approached the image of the zoid and placed his hand on it. This was something he had seen people do when trying to enact some kind of ritual. If a statue or a painting was somehow involved, they would typically place their hand on it to make something happen. Whether results were actually churned out was beyond his current knowledge. However, he figured it would be best to at least try.

"Let's try this again," he whispered. "SOMNUS NEMORIS!"

And right at the instant that he finished that phrase, his hand was shocked. The sudden pain forced him to jolt backwards and yell in pain.

_Not one_, chimed a light feminine voice in his head. _Not at all. Not one worthy._

"Not worthy?" he forced. "What do you mean not worthy?" No answer came from the voice. The two translators halted their arguing upon hearing his angered voice and wondered what was wrong.

"You talking to us?" the more reactive one asked.

"No!" he grasped his hand as he felt painful tingles still traveling through it. "Didn't either of you hear that?" They both looked at him dumbfounded.

"Hear what?"

"You know, that voice. The one that just said we're not worthy." He continued to receive weird looks.

"See, I was right when I said we should've left! Strange things are happening in here, and-"

Ragnarok turned his injured figure around to give the man his glare. He would _not _be told off by one of his own men.

"If that's gonna be your attitude about this, then get out of here and _never_ approach me again," the enraged commander ordered. "I absolutely will NOT tolerate people who whine!" This astonished the younger man to a huge extent. He just helped out his commander and this is what he gets as a reward? However, he was still somewhat unfamiliar with his methods.

"Okay! Jeez, my bad," he waved off. "Well now that I think about it, it's probably dangerous out there now what with whatever's attacking us."

Although the translator didn't know it, that response triggered a thought in Ragnarok's mind.

_Wait a second… If that's who I think it is out there, perhaps I can get them to help us with this. We should have them outnumbered, so taking them captive will be no problem._

The idea made Ragnarok grin with a haunting darkness to all who saw it. Some of his men viewed it as a trademark signature of his. It always meant that disturbing things were about to happen.

"Actually, we will go back out there." The Guysak pilots looked at him as if he were crazy. Wiping the smirk off his face, he straightened up his attire and ignored his hand. It was no time to be weak. "Yes, you heard me. If we see the Liger Zero out there, we're in luck, men."

Before they could complain or say anything, Ragnarok snapped his fingers a few times and pushed them along back towards the entrance. The Backdraft leader knew what they were thinking and could care less. If they weren't willing to fight, they weren't Backdraft soldiers. That was how he saw things.

* * *

The group's predicament was only growing bleaker and bleaker as each second passed by. Their invisibility is what kept them safe for now. In the end, though, all it would take was one false move to blow their cover. Thomas wasn't here to do that, as he kept telling himself. No, he would succeed! Ven was thinking similar thoughts but with much less confidence.

"So any ideas now, Kid, since we're stuck like this?" The guard demanded. His personal vendetta against the legendary zoid's pilot made him automatically believe that Ven was the cause of their problems.

"Hey, you're the experienced one," the teenager proclaimed. "Why don't you know something?"

"Because I've always had reliable teammates in the past, THAT'S why!"

The guard's tiresome attitude grew on Ven. As hard as it was, he tried to pass it off. Life was never simple.

"Hey Liger, are you capable of leaving text messages on the monitor?" The fact that he was talking to a zoid caught Thomas's attention.

"Hold on, you can communicate with it?" The silver-haired pilot rolled his eyes. This was something he did not want to have to explain again.

"Just mind your own business for a second, would you…"

And almost instantaneously, a message appeared in front of him on his window stating "YES".

"Well that's good." Then another message popped up in place of the previous one. It said: "THIS IS JUST SOMEWHAT TAXING ON MY CORE ENERGY, SO IT'S BETTER IF I DON'T COMMUNICATE THIS WAY".

"Oh…" Ven breathed. "Well just use it right now to tell me if you have an idea or not. If you make a sound, you'll draw their attention."

The next message read: "I'M JUST AS CLUELESS ABOUT THIS AS YOU ARE RIGHT NOW. ALL I KNOW IS THAT I CAN TAKE ON QUITE A FEW OF THESE GUYS".

"We should probably just remain here then unless we get provoked," he recommended. He figured that would take a while to happen. That thought became rather secondary, however, when the sight of a blue-coated man with two men wearing black-emblazed suits came running out of the cave. Ven had seen Backdraft commanders on television reports back in Remma and never really viewed them as personal threats to him. But unlike those ones, this guy had an uncanny darkness in his look that he knew could pose a huge problem, especially right now. "Hey Thomas."

"Yeah?"

"Who is that guy with the blue clothing coming out there?"

The question shocked the guard. How could one not know who Ragnarok was? Everyone under the Commission, even the civilians, knew this man for the Backdraft causes and strategies he had led in the past.

"You don't know him? He's the Backdraft Organization's most well-rounded leader. It's been said his real-name was lost a long time ago, so he came up with 'Ragnarok.'"

Ven kept on looking sternly at the man. His facial expressions gave off the impression that he was responsible for many of the losses and triumphs around Planet Zi. The teenager just hoped that Liger Zero and himself would not be involved in any type of friction with him.

"Regardless," Thomas continued, "the fact that he's here greatly endangers us."

"In that case," Ven pondered quietly, "you may want to get yourself ready, buddy."

"OF COURSE," read another message. Ven turned around to look at Aero. The preteen was still displaying some attitude.

"As for you, just do whatever is possible to stay low. I'm the pilot, so _I_ make the rules in here." Aero just looked to the side and blew wind to show his disapproval of Ven's words.

_Don't worry, Ven, you'll make it out of this,_ the pilot mentally panicked. As much as none of them wanted to admit it, they each knew things were about to get really ugly at perhaps any moment.


	9. Plans and Strikes Final Part

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters (excluding Aero) and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**Plans and Strikes Final Part**

Something was in the air. The Backdraft commander could sense this upon stepping outside again. He looked around and took in the desolate wind that poured all over him.

_It better be them_, he hoped. One man had already fooled around with him. It would certainly not be okay if another one or two did.

"So," he called to all of the other pilots through his earpiece, "is there still nothing?"

"No, Sir," several calm voices replied. Given the situation, the man's tone was rather surprising. "At least not yet, Sir."

"Dammit," Ragnarok cursed. "Anyway, if you find something, be careful. I have a suspicion as to who may be among us."

"Roger that." The signal instantly cut off as the blue-coated man took out the earpiece. He knew he wouldn't be needing it right now. No, there was action to be a part of. As a leader, you have to know how to anticipate things, and the desolate wind told him enough.

"You men," he signaled, turning towards the two pilots who had served as his translators, "get yourselves ready."

* * *

Ven sat in his seat, tense sensations coursing through his body. Watching the commander's every move told him that something was about to erupt. You don't talk through an earpiece without planning to have something happen.

"So what happens if we get caught?" Ven asked Thomas. The answer wasn't the best one for their sake.

"We're just gonna have to fight back as hard as we can. Since we have some of their men, they'd wanna take us captive as well. We can't let the playing field be evened out."

"So we fight to the death?"

"Basically." Hearing the word 'death' was all Aero needed to get all riled up again.

"Death?" he piped. "See, I told you we were going to-"

"Don't. Even. Say it," Ven cut him off.

The Backdraft zoids gradually began to spread out again as they either went back to work or scouted the area. Even if nothing else was to be found, they still knew that the destruction of the forest could allow it to be served as a new occupational spot for Backdraft development. But as more trees began to collapse, remaining unseen would become increasingly difficult. And of course, it did.

A previously unseen blue Connectes was slowly moving in on their location. The only obstacle that kept it from reaching them in a few seconds was its job of making the place even clearer. Zero could detect this coming from behind him. So he sent his pilot a message: VEN, I DON'T THINK WE'LL BE ABLE TO STAY HERE MUCH LONGER.

"Why is that?" Then he could feel slight shifts in the ground below him. They became more intense as the seconds passed by. "That can't be good."

"It's not," Thomas informed. "We have a Baratz coming in from behind us according to my sensors."

_Yup, I'm technologically behind_, Zero thought to himself.

"So what do we do now? We can't move without this guy catching us."

"If we're careful, we may be able to get out of this while avoiding any contact. But we'll need to time things precisely." The teenager was both relieved and didn't like the sound of that at all. He knew one false move and they'd be over with. There was a huge amount of pressure and adrenaline.

"I don't know how you'll have us pull that off, but alright," the Ven reassured.

"Just don't have another accident in there and we'll be good." Much to everyone's dismay, that served as a jinx moment. The incoming Baratz managed to pick up speed since the trees it was knocking down were getting smaller and smaller. The force of the movements going on around them made the Liger Zero move its paw as an involuntary reaction.

DAMMIT. another text message read. The movement made a slight sound, more than enough to catch the attention of the Backdraft Group. Thomas saw what had happened and cursed out Ven for it.

"I just said-"

"It wasn't me," Ven interrupted. "Come on, Zero!" The zoid told him: THAT ALWAYS HAPPENS IN SITUATIONS LIKE THIS.

Meanwhile, Ragnarok turned towards the source of the noise while he was getting ready to jump into his Raynos. A glimmer on a faint surface caught his vision as he grinned.

_Whoever's here isn't too smart at all._

Then, as if he was getting ready for a fight, he pulled out his Desert Eagle and aimed it at the glimmer, Liger Zero's foot. This would serve as an indicator for the enemy's location if it turned out they were there. Once the barrel of the gun was lined up perfectly, he pulled the trigger that would start a cacophony in the dying forest. He saw and heard a clang, exposing the Commission pilots's hiding spot. The commander instantly turned on his earpiece to tune in all Backdraft pilots on the mission. There were at least fifty of them.

"There," the commander shouted. "Amidst the trees in front of my Raynos. They're using stealth technology! Whatever you do, do not kill them! We'll need them later." All of them took notice of where the feline and the dibison supposedly were hiding and closed in. Due to their lack of ranged-weapons, the darkened zoids would have to rely on close combat. This was the kind of game Zero loved to play, but the sheer number of them looked troublesome.

Once all of his men confirmed his word, Ragnarok took control the Raynos and lifted off into the skies. The advantage was theirs, and he would not let this golden opportunity escape him.

"He found us," Ven exclaimed. "I think they're all coming to us, too!"

"Yup," Thomas confirmed, looking at his own built-in radar. "A lot of them. Tens. Good thing they're all small fry, except for the Raynos. Seriously, Chump, you need to work on some control in there."

"Tsk."

Right then and there, the stealth shield disappeared.

"What did you do that for?" the teenager demanded. In his mind, invisibility could only help in this situation.

"They've already found us. It's also actually going to make it easier for their commander to see us if we keep it on since any physical blows we take may be brightly illuminated by sunlight, and he's the biggest threat."

"Oh…" Ven was surprised by the Commission guard's in-depth intellect. He always saw the guy as a slightly incompetent man, despite his willingness to lead the mission.

"Anyway, we need to break off, and now!" He looked to his right to watch the dibison take off for a group of Connecteses.

"There he goes," muttered the feline's pilot. "Let's do this, Liger!"

"_You got it."_

The Connectes from earlier had not stopped in its tracks. Heck, it picked up its speed once it saw the Liger Zero. Pushing itself as fast as it could, it was determined to make Commander Ragnarok proud. However, much to its dismay, the white-armored zoid bounded to the side at almost the last second, lining himself up so that he was perpendicular to the Connectes. Ven then clamped down on his controls to force Liger to bite down into the front end of the insect. The sudden motion allowed him to quickly gain momentum and to throw it into several piled up rocks. The Backdraft zoid was essentially disabled.

"_Good move, there,"_ Zero complimented. Ven smirked and moved on to the next available target. Aero was having another shock moment as he realized that it seemed as if they would have a chance.

Apair of Connecteses accompanied by a Guysting were seen swerving through the remaining trees and foliage. They were hoping to sneek up on the feline and initiate a relentless beatdown. Again, the element of surprise was lost as the teenager saw them out of the corner of his eye and forced Zero to shift towards his left. The oncomers gradually slowed down as they recognized their situation and stared down the legendary zoid. A death glare seemed to emanate from his piercing orange eyes.

"Tough luck for you guys," Ven announced. He wasted no time and thrusted the feline forward so that he could take advantage of the open opportunity. In just mere seconds, the Backdraft pilots of the Connecteses felt the frontal power of a strong headbutt and were lifted in the air. They landed on the ground on their backsides with the Guysting between them. At that instant, several other Guystings showed up in a circular formation surrounding the Liger and proceeded to close in. "Seems like these guys don't value their lives at all."

"_I think that's what they're trained to be like,"_ the zoid commented. _"Their oath is to the Backdraft Group, with their mentalities completely absorbed."_

"I think they're just creepy."

Ven had no intention of waiting for the Guystings to make mincemeat out of Liger Zero's parts, so he fired shock cannon shells from his zoid's underbelly, effectively taking out three of them. The other pilots took notice of what happened and sped up. Zero leapt through the opening he created and made a mad blitz through the trees and foliage, dodging through several Baratz-type zoids. He utilized his tail's gun to take some of them out and to ease things up a bit. Once he found an unalert Guysting he pounced on top of it before trailing off and using his hind legs to kick it lightly in the air. Other Backdraft zoids that were following him collided with the Guysting and tumbled about.

Ven twisted Liger Zero again to fire off more Shock Cannon rounds. Several of the weak zoids went down, seemingly disabled. At the same time, Aero had been desperately clinging on to his seat to keep himself from flying about given how quickly they had been maneuvering. It wasn't a completely unusual speed for a zoid to go at, but his body had not yet adjusted to it.

In the meantime, a smaller Connectes had gotten under them and attempted to disorient their balance.

"_What the hell?"_ Liger Zero groaned. He felt parts of his armor being scraped against as he futilely tried to get rid of the small zoid. _"Whatever is down here is screwing us up."_

"Ya think?" Ven tossed. He pressured Zero's legs so that they would start kicking. Eventually he managed to hit it in its center and had it bash against the back end of his front paws. This caused the feline to almost do what would have looked like a double-take. The two bodies inside the cockpit were abruptly thrown forward.

"_Hey, be careful in that spot! If those tubes there sustain too much damage, I'm out for this battle."_

"Gurgh…" the two humans moaned. "It would've helped if you had told me that earlier!"

Though weakened, Ven pulled Zero backwards to expose the Connectes. It was trying to get back up, but they weren't going to let it. Zero had his paw raised and brought it back down on the spot where it had been just hit.

Meanwhile, Thomas had been dealing with his own share of Baratz zoids. As much as the Dibison lacked in agility it more than made up for in strength and firepower. Any Backdraft scum that came close felt the power of its Crusher Horns, as well as its spiked hooves. Its mass also allowed it to sustain more hits than most other zoids can possibly take.

Thomas locked-on to about sixteen targets before letting loose with several missiles. While the firepower was damaging what was left of the environment, he could have cared less. His life was on the line and that was all that mattered. He readied BEEK's pulse beam guns to take out more zoids that were a fair distance away. His own shock cannons were also put to work to dispose of anything that was close by. A large portion of what was laid out in front of him resembled a dead battle zone.

But he still wasn't finished, and neither were they. More Backdraft zoids could be seen a small distance away. As they kept on appearing, Thomas saw a Raynos boom over him.

_We'll have to somehow deal with an experienced aerial pilot, too_, he worried. _If I'm lucky, I may be able to get a shot in and take him down._

At the same time, Ragnarok was having his own distraught thoughts.

"There you are, you Commission dogs." He looked down to see the Dibison and the Liger Zero individually picking off his soldiers. The feline zoid stole most of his attention, however, given its performance from the day before and its performance today. It and its companion zoid were seemingly having no problem with his forces. Its pilot must also be someone who could be useful to him in his current mission. "And you in particular. You'll be mine this time!"

Ragnarok set himself on course to dive straight for Liger Zero and to disable his legs. Ven was an unknowingly open target, even though he should've known that a Raynos would come down at any time. Once he did see the black zoid incoming, he hopped out of the way just in time to avoid a barrage of blasts. The Raynos picked up its speed to zoom right by them. The windforce sent the Liger Zero tumbling backwards, Ven and Aero bumping around inside.

"Jesus," Ven swore to Thomas over the videolink. "How the hell are we supposed to deal with this guy and all the other Baratz zoids here?"

"I'm not quite sure," came a reply. "But whatever, as a direct order from me, do NOT GIVE UP! THEY CANNOT TAKE US!" The image then disappeared as the Commission guard continued to take down several of the small zoids.

"Wow. Here we are in a situation with the odds against us, and all his ego does is boost," the teenager moaned. "Anyway, Zero, you have any ideas?"

"_Just stay on alert for everything at all times. We almost got taken out there."_

"Yeah…" Ven tightened his grip on the steers, looking out for all the things that were occurring. The numbers they were facing weren't as huge as before, but the last attack would prove that things were going to be far from easy.

To display his determination, he righted Liger Zero back onto its feet through small gradual movements. The force of the wind had not only pushed the zoid back but also damaged various parts of its armor. As a result, they couldn't move as fast as would be deemed normal for a Liger-type zoid. However, their current maximum speed was all they needed to take out the rest of their foes, excluding the Raynos.

Fortunately, they could see the Dibison in the far distance as he seemed to be being surrounded.. Liger Zero let out a loud and vicious roar as he gathered whatever energy he could and took off for his companion's location. Everyone heard it and stopped in their tracks as he entered into a blitz. The other Guystings and Connecteses he had been facing wore off their surprise and went for him as fast as they possibly could. They still wouldn't be able to catch up in time, however.

The feline pounced again and landed on top of one of the scorpion zoids. He used his jaw to viciously rip off its tail and to chuck it at several other guystings grouped together. Wasting no time, Thomas forced BEEK into firing more rounds towards the surrounding opposition. All of the nearby Backdraft zoids fell quickly and soundly. Thomas was impressed by the physical aggression Ven was able to bring out with his zoid but still couldn't get his mind around the fact that the kid managed to get the Liger Zero. _The_ Liger Zero. A hero the teenager may be, but a troublemaker he still is.

The two of them regrouped next to each other and saw what was left of the Backdraft zoids. From what Thomas could identify, they were still a fair number left.

"_That was a pretty impressive display there,"_ BEEK complimented.

"_Thanks. Heh, you ain't getting old yourself!"_

"_Oh, believe me, I am. Way back when, these guys would have been a non-issue."_

"_Well, keep it up. If we can take out that big boy up there, this should become a non-issue."_

"_Right,"_ he groaned. _"That'll be easier said than done."_

Growing impatient, Thomas didn't want to standby any longer and wanted to keep the risk of them losing as low as possible. He told Ven to stand back so that he could 'finish the job.' Not understanding what he meant, he slowly trudged backwards due to his irritation. Did this guy really think he was all that? But he took all thoughts along those lines back once he saw the Dibison's top cannons start to glow an orange-yellowish hue.

"MEGALO MAX," Thomas yelled out loudly in his cockpit. Almost instantaneously, a large burst of yellow beams that condensed together shot out from the cannons, straight towards several Guystings and Connecteses that were lined up. The ray pierced through them with an extreme ease, shocking everyone besides Thomas, BEEK, and Liger Zero.

"Damn…" Ven whistled. "Dibisons are that strong?"

"_Yup,"_ BEEK replied, _"but since I am…well…different from other zoids of my type, I can amplify that attack to be stronger than normal."_

Ragnarok had also seen the damage that the dibison had dealt. All that remained of his troops were about half a dozen zoids, none of which would be able to win the battle against the two of them. At least not at this rate. Knowing this, he knew it was completely up to him now. He would not allow them to blow the mission. No, not a revered pilot of his caliber.

"That's it," he sneered. "You've been getting lucky these past couple days, but you won't be seeing the end of this!" Wanting to keep a few soldiers left for the mission just in case, he ordered the group that remained to retreat. They all complained about there being nowhere else to go at the moment, but he ignored them. They took that as a signal for 'figure something out by yourselves' and proceeded to back up and away as far as they could. Ven and Thomas and their zoids noticed the action the they were taking and grew very suspicious.

"Weird…" Thomas commented. "That's not quite like the Backdraft Group. Not at all. Just keep moving towards them in case action does resume."

"Got it."

They walked slightly faster than their opponents did just to gain a slight advantage. None of them still had any idea what was going on. However, that was until BEEK's sensors received a warning of an enemy speeding towards them from a high location. The guard ordered Ven to move out of the way instantly once he saw what it was coming. Ven took notice of the Raynos as well and immediately ran away. The black zoid's bullets just barely missed as it flew above them.

"Still no ideas?" Ven called to his teammate.

"I'm out of missile ammo. We're just gonna have to keep on taking shots." In the teenager's mind, it was a very ill-conceived idea.

"I swear," he began quietly, "I'll never figure this guy out."

"_He sure is 'professional.'"_

"Yup. Anyway, it looks like it's just us and the Raynos up there."

"_I know. I'm looking around to see if there's anything we can use to our advantage."_

The zoid and its pilot kept looking around the battleground in the hopes that they would be able to come up with an idea. Meanwhile, the airborne zoid was making a sharp turn back towards them. Thomas was profusely firing at it as it charged for Liger Zero. The pteranodon utilized its Vulcan Cannons to attempt to disable the feline. Ven gracefully maneuvered his zoid in between the bullets, much to Ragnarok's irritation. As soon as the shots from the Dibison started to catch up, Ragnarok blew away again, the wind pushing Zero several feet forward.

(**Author's note:** Before you get the wrong idea, 'several feet' isn't actually that far when you're piloting a zoid. I'm sure you know that, but this was just to make sure)

"_Argh,"_ Zero growled. _"I don't know how much of this I'll be able to take if that Raynos keeps this up."_

"Just keep it up, Buddy. You're doing good." Upon looking around more once the Raynos was off his tail, the silver-haired pilot spotted the cave entrance again and wondered if he had an idea in mind. It would involve the cliffside surrounding it. "Hey, do you think that cliff over there where we were hiding earlier could help us?" Liger Zero twisted his head to look at where his pilot was looking and was surprised he hadn't already thought of using it.

"_Yeah…if we can get on top of it somehow. It doesn't seem like there's an easy way to get up there since I'm no climber."_

"Well that's what we're gonna have to do someway or another. Maybe if we gain enough momentum we can jump on to one of its lower ledges."

"_Did you forget that I'm damaged? If this messes up, it'll look embarrassing, maybe even ruin us,"_ the zoid roared in protest. He was imagining himself trying to make a long jump and instead colliding face-first into a rock-hard surface. Beyond that, he was also thinking about successfully making the leap until his legs hit the edge of the cliff, sending him rolling back down and screwing up who-knows-what parts of his.

"I'm sure we can do it. You're still strong enough as is, and it doesn't look like it would be that high for you."

"_Kid, nothing looks like it actually is until you get up close to it. And do you really think that bastard up there is gonna let us just run away?"_

Ven amped up the pressure on the controls to make Liger Zero go as fast as he could.

"_Yeah, you're definitely crazy. There's no getting around that."_

The cliffside kept getting nearer and nearer. Thomas asked set up another video feed to ask Ven what he was doing, who told him to keep him covered. The shift in who's-who annoyed the blue-haired guard a lot as he looked like he was about to begin mouthing off again. As soon as the teenager heard the first words, he shut off their signal and kept the black and white zoid moving in the same direction. He was determined that they could make it. Ragnarok saw what they were attempting to do and laughed.

"Do you really think I'm about to let you gain the upper hand? Not on my life you won't!"

The Backdraft pilot pulled off a combination of graceful moves before pointing his zoid downwards. He saw beams surge right by him as he dodged all of them with a great spectacle. He located their source and knew what had to be done to keep things possible.

"I guess I'll have to take care of you first," the commander snarled. "If I don't, you'll just be problematic."

Whipping out its two Storm Claws and Spike Claws, the Raynos turned to aim directly towards BEEK in a vicious dive. Thomas saw what he was intending to do and pushed the Dibison forward. He had managed to escape further damage, but his fortune would not last long. The pteranodon further spread its wings as it was about to hit the ground and proceeded to execute a full horizontal two-hundred-seventy degree turn, straight towards the barrels on top of the Dibison. The majority of them were successfully chipped off by the Raynos's strengthened claws, hugely disorientating for BEEK as his weight was unbalanced. He tipped over and felt the full explosion as one of his main weapons was destroyed. The pilot inside had been knocked unconscious by the blast as his body bounced around.

The loud bang caught Ven's, Aero's, and Liger's attention as they looked back. The oncoming Raynos at full speed made the scene even more look even more disturbing. Ragnarok was laughing maniacally as he knew success was within reach. He just needed to guarantee it by disabling the legendary zoid itself. Then, its pilot would be all his to use.

The teenage pilot returned his attention to in front of him to see how much farther the cliff was. It turned out to be very close by, in fact - they just had to hold out for a bit longer. Things would become a lot easier if they could make it to their destination. At least, that's what he and Liger Zero were hoping, Aero as well. The zoid itself was still wondering if they'd be able to make it up there. Their hopes were starting to become bleak, however, as soon as the 'sky demon' came in closer. It shot bullet after bullet out of all of its cannons, aiming towards the feline's legs. The Backdraft commander always made sure to disable a ground zoid's mobility if it looked like it could pose a challenge, otherwise he just let all hell loose on it.

Ven forced Liger Zero to the left and to the right several times. He kept his agility up as high as he could while still going in the same direction.

"_I don't think we're gonna make it,"_ Zero cried.

"Just hold on!"

Unfortunately, their luck ran out not long after. The armored legs and paws eventually took several hits until they could take no more. The zoid collapsed and hit the ground hard, flipping over and around as Ven and Aero received a rough ride. The movements caused Ven's hands to fly about and to accidentally open up the hatch, exposing him and his brother to the dying sunlight. To his huge despair, Aero went rolling out of the cockpit and into the cave as they had managed to stop right in front of its entrance. The backseat of the zoid only had a seat belt that could hardly stand the force of what had been going on, so the preteen's body was released.

"AERO," Ven called. Before he could say anything else, more shots seared right by them and hit the cliff. Several rocks fell down due to the attack, sealing the black-haired thirteen-year-old boy in right when he stood up. Ven kept on calling back as loud as he could, but there was nothing either of them could do. Aero was trapped in the cave. The fact that only a small amount of light shone through further complicated things.

* * *

Aero tried lifting and pushing the heavy rocks, but to no avail. He climbed up on them and attempted the same thing but got the same result. Nothing would work. As far as he could tell, his older brother was helpless to do anything as well.

_Death…_ Aero thought as he weakly slid down off the pile. _Death… I knew it._

He looked behind him to see the darkness that scared him so much. It was what told him everything. His brother had kept on telling him that things would be okay, but he seriously doubted that now. Tears began to streak out of his eyes and down his cheeks as he collapsed onto his knees and placed his palms on the rocky surface. He began to cry for the next minute until he had a strange experience.

_What is wrong in here?_ said a feminine voice in his head. _Weeping? No, not so. That can't be the case._

"Wha…What?" he managed to spill out under his stress. The preteen lifted his head to look around for the source of the sound. Being alone was already bad enough, but adding mysterious noises to that? It couldn't get any better.

_Oh, a voice now. It better not be another one…_

Suddenly, small torches that had been placed on the walls a long time ago lit up. The illumination surprised Aero as he slowly regained himself enough to stand up. He turned around to look at the tunnel that lie ahead and wondered what he should do. Things were extremely scary to him now, so he didn't want to travel any farther. However, he knew just standing there wouldn't change anything.

_I'm curious…_ the same voice muttered again. This time it seemingly echoed, almost as if it was trying to cue him into moving forward. His confidence still remained at an all-time low. He managed to push himself out of his comfort zone enough though and began to trudge forward. The fact that the torches suddenly lit up was what was freaking him out the most. In addition, he placed one of his hands on the walls to keep himself from stumbling.

There were no bats, something which Aero had been expecting. Either this was a very awkward cave or someone had _already_ been here before. He didn't know. He was also thankful at the same time since it made things less intimidating for him. But everything about that changed once he encountered a large opening that resembled a room of some sort. There was a large statue in the middle of it. To its sides was where you could see the path continue but grow narrower. Aero walked down the left side and kept on moving forward.

The area opened up again after slowly walking more. This time he was greeted by the sight of a large image of a zoid, one of which was unlike any zoid he had seen before.

"Whoa…" Aero muttered. The smaller kid didn't stop in his tracks until he came up close to the carving. "What is this supposed to be?" The mysterious voice then returned.

_One?_ it said. _Yes, one it seems. I just need the physical proof._

"Physical proof?" He looked around and wondered what he had to do. That was until an idea came to him. These situations always played out in the cartoons, right?

Aero moved slightly forward to directly in front of the image and placed his hands on it. He was waiting for something to happen, but nothing came.

Or so that's what he initially thought.

A strong shock was felt in his hand and traveled through his body. Added to the pain he was already feeling, this felt horrible for a few seconds.

"OW!"

_There we go. Yup, that's all I need. Finally…_

Aero had no idea what was happening. He did whatever something had requested of him and he got shocked for it. His emotions started to boil up again as he felt more water in his eyes. But when he looked up, he saw another result. The lining of the zoid started to glow a bright pink shade. The color then gradually spread out amongst the rest of the wall, surrounding Aero in a bright light. Whatever was going on, it was freaking out the preteen immensely.

The light then blitzed upwards as it overtook his field of vision.

* * *

Ven was still outside calling for his brother. He moved the safety harness up and ran towards the closed off entrance.

"_Just…calm down,"_ Zero ordered as he struggled to get back up. Try as he might, but he just kept on falling back down. _"If I could do something about him right now I would. But unless I can, there's no use yelling."_ His pilot did not like what he heard one bit.

"So what are you trying to tell me? He's stuck in there?"

"_No, although he is. I'm just saying save your breath for in case that Raynos comes back around."_

Ven could only grumble in response, because he knew his partner was right. If he was gonna do anything about the dark situation they were in, he would need energy.

"I guess you're right."

Watching them from the skies was Ragnarok. He still couldn't believe what had happened himself. The entrance to where he needed to go back to had been blocked off, and by him nonetheless. But he did see a plus side to the situation. There was the Liger Zero, exposed and vulnerable. However, he couldn't take it out without possibly killing its pilot by accident. The same possibility was there if he tried to shoot away the rocks.

"Damn," he cursed. "I guess I'll just have to go back down there and make him mine then."

The black zoid performed a loop-de-loop before heading back down to where it was parked earlier. Liger Zero warned Ven of the incoming 'threat' and told him to hide somewhere. He took cover behind one of the feline's claws and hoped that he would be able to surprise him. Somehow, he knew things would not pan out that way.

The Raynos's own claws soon touched the ground, providing a soft landing. The hatch then opened, allowing the blue-haired pilot to jump right out. He whipped out his Desert Eagle and smacked it against the palm of his other hand.

"Just come out," Ragnarok ordered. He had seen Ven take refuge in his current hiding place and didn't want to waste any more time. He had business to be done. The teenager could sense this attitude while coming out with his hands up. The Backdraft commander got a good look at his face and was surprised at what he saw. Very surprised.

_A teenager, hm?_ He thought. _Malcolm must be getting really desperate. Or he's just crazy._

"Well you're quite a sight," he insulted, looking at the pilot's small bruises on his face. "You're also a shock as well."

"Who, me? Really?" Ven spat. Ragnarok laughed.

"Oh yes. Yes indeed. I never knew your president to hire small little riff-raff like you, even more so that he gave you what must be his biggest prize." His head twisted to look at the large unusable zoid. Meanwhile, as angry as Ven was, he couldn't help but notice how young the commander looked. For someone of his position, he must've been somewhere in his thirties or forties, but he looked as if he were twenty-five or so.

_He must exercise_, Ven pondered. _In that case, I probably can't just take him on right now. I'll have to wait…_

"Look, he was anything but given to me."

"He?"

"_Dammit, Ven!"_

"Yes," Ven affirmed, "_he_."

"Tsk." Ragnarok closed his eyes and shook his head. He couldn't believe what he had heard. "You Commission dogs really are something else, you know that? You're very cute on the outside. But inside? You're something completely mixed up. A mess." His fist clenched as his feelings boiled up. Loss of control was not uncommon for him. But Ven had something to say back.

"You're calling us a mess? If it wasn't for your type, Zoid-Battling would be corruption free!"

"Oh, Kid, this goes beyond Zoid-Battling. This is politics I'm concerned with. _Real_ politics, not what those stupid video games have been shoving down your throat."

Ragnarok pulled out his Desert Eagle again and reopened his eyes. The sight of the gun was enough to single-handedly scare Ven to death.

"And I'm here to make things happen," the dark commander informed. He was about to raise his gun to aim it at Ven, but Liger Zero would not stand for it. The large zoid roared in protest and moved his paws as best as he could, but to no avail. It did however keep the commander from doing anything dangerous. "Sentience, eh? No wonder why this thing is so famous."

And right then and there, he swung his aim over to an exposed section of one of the zoid's hind legs and fired. Ven hardly had time to react until the trigger was pulled. The bullet only dented a large wire but was enough to cause Liger Zero to groan.

"It's a rare trait," he continued. The teenager just stood there, shocked at what the man in front of him was capable of. The man's blank face was all he needed to know that there was no sympathy in his heart at all. He looked like he could potentially be a selfish killer deep down, and he probably was. "But back to you…"

The feline's pilot watched as Ragnarok carefully approached him, keeping the Desert Eagle raised to his forehead. The man kept making small steps until he was within only a few feet of the young pilot. As soon as he was close enough, Ven swung at him. His goal was to knock out the blue-haired man, but his knuckles only collided with a strong palm. The hand gripped onto his own tightly enough so that he could not pull back.

"I'm gonna do what I can to make you useful to me."

Before Ven could react, he felt himself being spun around and pulled into an arm-lock. Both of Ragnarok's elbows were directly below Ven's armpits, and the commander's forearms pressed strongly against the sides of his chest. The teenager struggled violently as he attempted to break free.

"You see, I'm not exactly happy with you," Ragnarok began. "You dispatched of several of my men today, and you are responsible for the failure of yesterday's mission."

"Grrr… Yesterday?" Ven lightened up his movements as he heard that word. "You directed that attack?"

"The one and only," he replied. He then pointed his finger towards the cave entrance that was now blocked off. "You're also partly responsible for that." The now-captive pilot was somewhat surprised upon finding out that they both shared some of the same dismay. He also wondered if Ragnarok knew something about it. However, once that thought ended, the grip on him suddenly grew stronger. "So as a way of also giving you punishment, I'm going to have you tell me everything you know about the Commission. That means what they are doing and planning and so on."

Ven thought about what Thomas told him earlier. _We can't let the playing field be evened out._ Ragnarok was growing impatient quickly as he grumbled out several complaints.

"Well?"

It seemed like Ven's luck was about to end. Everything would just slowly go away. But then an opportunity presented itself to him.

Neither of them had expected it, so they were both startled. Ragnarok still kept a firm grip. However, the attention of their eyes was taken away towards the top of the cliff when they heard a loud blast resonate through the air. A massive pink beam with a bright shade shot out before forming into a ball-shape. Zero did whatever he could to look at it as well. Much to his fortune, two small blasts shot out of the object, one of them heading straight for him. Everyone was shocked at first since they didn't know what was going to happen. Then, in only a few seconds, all the damage the Liger Zero had sustained disappeared. He kept telling himself that he felt brand new and ready to get back into action.

"_Alright,"_ Liger Zero roared. _"Now, as for you…"_

Ragnarok looked back at the object in mid-air and watched as it blitzed off in another direction soon after. Once it was gone, he knew the situation was no longer in his favor. He looked up at Liger Zero's glaring eyes and saw only one possible option. The zoid and its pilot would never see it coming.

_Whatever that thing was, it had to have been what I was supposed to look further into,_ the commander told himself. _In that case, I'll have to leave here as soon as possible._

He let go of Ven and immediately shoved him hard, causing him to collide with the ground. The teenager tried to get back up as fast as he could, but it was too late: Ragnarok pulled a smoke grenade out from under his coat. The Raynos's hatch had opened again and allowed the commander to jump right in. After he seated himself, he tipped the grenade's pin off and threw it in Ven's direction. As soon as it hit the ground, a massive amount of black smoke deployed from it. The black zoid blended in with it with ease.

"You and I will have to settle this later," Ragnarok called before his cockpit was no longer exposed. Ven was trying to find his way amidst the smoke while Liger Zero was trying to find him. The duo could hear the pteranodon take off towards the air again as they were still looking for each other. "Men, leave the area. Head back to the base, because your zoids won't be able to keep up. I have something I need to go after."

A few minutes later the smoke had finally dissipated. Ven was able to find Zero after placing his hand on one of the feline's legs.

"Goddamn," he loudly complained. "Here I was hoping I wouldn't have to tango with him this whole time, and now I find out he's a force to be reckoned with!"

"_I know. I've only ever encountered a few pilots or soldiers of his overall expertise. They were all huge problems."_

"Well I get the bad feeling he's gonna be another one for you, and me, too."

"_He's already established himself as such. And if yesterday is anything to go by, he was probably hoping to see me destroyed."_

"Yeah." Ven stopped to readjust his body to the cooler air. "But what was that thing we just saw that suddenly left?"

"_I'm not quite sure, but it's definitely what I was sensing earlier. It's strange that it was able to heal me instantly, and the fact that that guy was after it means there's probably something else up as well."_

Ven sat down and rested against against his zoid's leg.

"_By the way, are you OK? That's two older men today that have handled you in some way or another."_

"I'm fine," Ven replied. "It's just that I almost _died_ there…again…"

"_I feel ya. I've been in a lot of scary situations myself."_

"No surprise there. I guess you can't be legendary unless you have."

"_True."_

The teenager looked around him and saw hardly anything left of the forest. All the trees had either been collected or knocked down. It was a very tragic sight. He was hoping there would have been more left than what there was.

"By the way…" Ven stuttered a little, "…thanks for saving me again."

"_I've done that three times now, so you owe me,"_ Liger Zero joked.

"Don't worry about that. I'll do something for you sometime."

"_You'd better."_

Ven was just happy they were able to make it out of the situation alive. He was confident things would be a lot easier than they turned out to be. He was thinking Aero must've seen a lot more to this mission but just decided to exaggerate. Speaking of Aero, and Thomas as well, he knew he still had some more work to do.

And perhaps some more things to worry about as well.


	10. Darkness and Wonder

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters (excluding Aero) and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**Darkness and Wonder**

The teenager thought about his brother as he got back into Liger Zero. After what they had just witnessed, Ven could only pray that the younger kid was well. He charged up the Shock Cannons as the shells bursted out and effortlessly knocked away the rocks.

"Stay here and on alert," Ven ordered the zoid as he got back out. "I'll need you to keep watch since you're too big to fit in there."

"_Yes, boss,"_ Liger groaned. In seconds he saw his pilot trail off again into the dark cave. The teenager's dark suit was the last thing he saw until he completely vanished.

Ven started to call out for Aero desperately. The name repeatedly echoed throughout the cave while no response came. He moved down further, almost stumbling over several small rocks. He still couldn't hear another voice.

_Seriously_, Ven thought, _what the hell could've happened to him?_

Meanwhile, just like Ragnarok and Aero had before him, he took in everything that he saw. The statue, the room that it was in, everything. It all gave him a disturbing vibe, telling him that things weren't okay.

Once he traveled all the way to the end, there was his younger brother just standing there. The preteen looked stoned as his eyes faced upwards towards the darkening sky. Aero was still trying to understand what he had just experienced. A mysterious voice spoke to him before he was surrounded by a massive bright pink color. Before he knew it, it had gone up into the air and vanished.

"Aero," Ven called to him again. "You okay?" He barely even got a response.

"Uhhhhhh…huhhhhhhh…"

Ven did the same as his brother and looked upwards. He thought about the previous encounter and couldn't wrap his mind around what was going on.

"You don't sound like you mean it," he pointed out. He knew Aero was always one for vague words.

"It's just…"

However, Ven saw no reason to waste time. So he picked the kid up and put him over his left shoulder. Whatever injuries the kid had they had to be suppressed with little movement and to be dealt with as soon as possible.

"Nevermind. You can tell me about it later. Let's just get ourselves out of here."

In the meantime, as he was being lifted up, Aero was thinking about what he heard.

_Yes, one_, he thought. What was going on?

"See what I told you?" Ven broke the silence. "We didn't die. But-"

He coughed hard as if he was trying to chuck something up but couldn't.

"Gah," he choked. "That fuckin' guy. Jesus."

The pilot picked up his pace as much as he could. His legs were burning from the work and dangers he had been put through and couldn't wait to get them tended to. Once the next couple minutes passed, he was again greeted by the feline's large face.

"_He doesn't look too bad."_

"Thank god for that much." Ven trudged over to the cockpit and used his strained muscles to place Aero back inside. "I've still gotta get used to your added weight, bro."

The youngster's head rolled about as his eyes were exposed to the lowering sun. Given the darkness he was previously covered by, this was a warm welcome. Some of the light disappeared, however, as Ven took his seat and the hatch closed down.

"Now for _that guy_," Ven stated, not wanting to think about Thomas at all. "I need to locate him. Did you see exactly where he was?"

"_Somewhere behind us,"_ Liger replied. _"It sounded like he took a critical hit."_

"Yeah," Ven muttered. "Damn, what is the Commission really up against?"

"_Something a lot stronger than they're probably accustomed to."_

The feline zoid was back on its feet and shook all the dirt off of itself. It twisted its head in both directions and repositioned its feet to look around the area. It walked in the opposite direction of the horizon and stared down the barren land. Tumbleweeds were blowing by before blending in with the growing night. There was something to be seen and something to be missed. However, after looking back at where they came, Ven spotted a large black object.

"There!"

Zero growled before running towards it. As they got closer, the object became recognizable as a Dibison that was trying to right itself, but its own weight made things difficult. Zero almost found it hysterical. Ven, too, found the sight quite amusing.

"_Need any help there, old-timer?"_ the zoid joked. BEEK thought about trampling Zero just for that.

"_As if you're any younger."_ The bison's legs stumbled again, much to its frustration. For the past several minutes he had been trying to get back up, but to absolutely no avail. Ven took note of the zoid's predicament and attempted to help it get back up. Zero's jaws wrapped around BEEK's other leg as the bison tried to push itself into a standing position. With enough effort and pulling, the huge zoid was eventually onto its feet again. _"There we go. Finally!"_

Liger Zero released his mouth and backed up to allow his comrade some personal space. Just like Zero had, BEEK shook himself to clean up and get rid of some of the dirt that had gotten in between his parts.

"_Much better,"_ he affirmed.

Once Ven saw the Dibison was fine, he opened up another video connection to see if Thomas was alright. Unfortunately, things inside the cockpit were not the most pleasant of sights.

"Yewh," the pilot groaned. "You still alive in there?"

No response came. To Ven in particular, this was one of the worst scenarios he had to face. If Thomas wouldn't come to, not only would the president probably eat his head off, but he'd probably be stuck out here as well.

"Oh boy. This could be a bit problematic," he underemphasized.

"_Lemme guess,"_ Zero started, _"His pilot's outcold?"_

"Yup, maybe even worse. If that's the case, we could be out here for a looooooonnng time."

"_Figures."_ Zero knew he'd have to tell BEEK as well. _"My pilot's saying yours is in bad condition right now, pretty much critical."_

"_Shit,"_ the Dibison snarled. _"Him rotting inside me is an absolutely wonderful thought."_

"_Just try shaking around a bit more. That should wake him up."_

"_Fine. Just no laughing, especially since you're standing right there."_

"_Whatever."_

As soon as he felt comfortable, BEEK shook himself again in order to create movement inside his cockpit. The vibrations inside caused the blue-haired Commission pilot to lightly be tossed around.

"_Doesn't seem like this is working,"_ BEEK commented. _"If it was, I'd be feeling something awkward inside of me."_

The Dibison would turn out to be wrong, though. Ven kept looking inside his teammate's cockpit and noticed him starting to make slight wincing movements. Thomas was gradually coming to as his eyes looked at Ven's face. The sight caused him to shoot wide awake.

"Huh?" he startled. "What are you doing staring at me like that? We're under attack!"

"Just calm yourself, please. The enemy's already dealt with."

"By who? _You_?"

"None other," Ven bragged.

This was something the Dibison's pilot would need proof of. Legendary zoid with him or not, anyone whom he has several years over could not have possibly bested an elite Backdraft soldier. Only highly-trained professionals would be capable of such, if that.

"Quit your bullshitting," Thomas commanded as he wrapped his hands around the controls in his cockpit. "As if anyone like you could do something honorable for the Commission." The teenager sighed, knowing the next several hours would be long and tedious. "And how the hell are our zoids in perfect condition?"

"Ughhh…" Zero's pilot groaned. "How do I explain this?"

"_Just say that we never took any hard hits,"_ the feline suggested. _"He probably doesn't even remember what happened before he was knocked out."_

"Oh yeah. As far as I could tell, we were pretty much fine the whole time."

"You sure?" Thomas questioned. He didn't want to get played by the teenager again. "I have a vague memory of something bad happening. I can't remember exactly what it was, though."

"Don't worry about it. Weird things always go through people's heads when they're knocked out."

"Of course…" the guard muttered. "Wait, but how was I knocked out?" He felt very suspicious about what Ven was saying.

_Damn, he just has to think about these things._

"Things got a little intense around your zoid during the battle and caused it to tip over."

"_You make it sound like I was easily defeated,"_ the Dibison groaned.

"_Well, you kind of were."_

"That never happens," Thomas growled. Then he thought about a couple of things. "No… Now that I think about it, I guess that has happened a few times before."

"_HA,"_ Liger Zero roared.

"_Shutup."_

"Whatever," the guard declared. "Anyway, where did the rest of them go? We still had to take care of that Raynos."

"I told you that I dealt with him already. I didn't defeat him but managed to get him to leave."

Thinking about it, Ven knew that was somewhat true. The three of them crashing in front of the cave brought the Backdraft commander to them where he, in full detail, saw that large pink sphere that caught his attention.

_Which reminds me, I gotta talk to Aero about that.._

"Got him to leave, eh?" Thomas smirked. "He must have figured your pathetic nature wasn't worth his time." Ven's agitated face shone easily through the display. He just helped revive this man and this is how he's being thanked?

"_Your pilot really is asking for it, isn't he?" _Zero asked BEEK.

"_He's like this with everyone who he works with that is lower than him on a political level. I think he's very insecure about something."_

"_Clearly."_

"Look, he left, okay? That's all that matters right now. Let's just figure out what we need to do."

"So you already forgot about our mission?"

"No." The teenage pilot was growing even more irritated. Was his current coworker just screwing with him or being serious? "I just want to get into specifics."

"Right…" Thomas muttered. "You would. Just scout the place. We're bound to find something sooner or later." Doing work right after a fight was something Ven would not tolerate. No, he would protest.

"Can't you just contact the president now since the Backdraft guys are gone now? He might cut us some slack once he finds out what happened here." Thomas didn't like it, but the younger pilot did have a point for once.

"I guess. But if I can reach a signal to him and he doesn't, he'll be biting us later."

"Just try," Ven whined. "He can't get mad at us for taking out several Backdraft zoids."

"Whatever…"

* * *

As a commander, you have to learn to leave things behind you. Such was Ragnarok doing as he tried to close-in on the large pink-colored target. The encounter before was already an afterthough as he kept thinking about success or failure. And given what he was currently doing, what was success gonna look like anyway?

_This thing…I've never seen anything like it_, he thought. _Whatever it is, I need to be cautious around it._

Almost seemingly on-cue, the large sphere shot out a lightning bolt that traveled straight towards the Raynos. Ragnarok saw it in the nick of time and managed to swiftly evade it.

_It's very dangerous, whatever it is._

More lightning bolts kept shooting out as he got closer and closer. The pteranodon's pilot took note of this and backed up. He was being fired at much less as soon as he was farther away from it.

_Oh great. I can already tell this is going to be difficult. This son-of-a-bitch!_

The target itselft gradually picked up speed and started to produce strange moaning noises that interfered with the Backdraft commander's concentration.

"What the hell is it doing?"

It then sped up enough to almost seem as if it were never there. Ragnarok wasn't concerned about keeping up with it given his zoid's capabilities. He just wanted to get things over with.

"Graaaahhhhh! I'm not gonna let you get away," he beamed, pushing the Raynos to its maximum speeds.

* * *

The day had certainly been a long one for the president. In the already past hours, he had his wound tended to by a doctor as he handled all the administrative work that he could. Numerous papers and contracts with other companies had to be signed, some of which were second parties. Those types he was always careful around, but not so here since they were responsible for any communication that he may have with any Commission zoids that he sent out. Most notable to him now were Ven and Thomas.

During his dinner break, he had been wondering why he hadn't yet received any word from them. He was greatly concerned about anything that may have happened to them. The fact that they are both immature in some way or another didn't help his confidence in them either. Factor in that the Liger Zero may be somehow involved in any consequences and you get some dark thoughts.

While the president was sitting in his seat looking out through a window, Zanzer stepped in to provide some comfort for him.

"I'm sure they're doing fine out there, Mr. President."

"Hopefully so," Malcolm muttered grimly. "It was probably a mistake giving them this mission. Beyond the fact that I'm using it as a punishment, there's a lot to be obtained from it as well, that being a lot of valuable information and resources."

"Valuable information?" Zanzer asked, shocked. "So I guess those 'parts' you mentioned are what's left of older Backdraft zoids?"

"More than likely." The old man grabbed a cup of coffee that was on his desk and took a long sip from it. "We ourselves haven't actually been to the Pandora forest too many times. But the Backdraft Group is very much interested in spreading its influence and size, so they'd willingly attempt to takeover unused land. But the fact that these zoid parts seem very unfamiliar means that they've been there for a very long time, and something happened there that no one really knows about."

"A ghost story?" the global security lead joked.

"I wish it were nothing more than one. Let's just hope this mission won't turn out to be a wasted effort. Especially since I'm letting that kid use the Liger Zero."

"Speaking of which," Zanzer began, "I'm kind of surprised that you let him use it."

"We won't be letting this get to him. I just know that he's capable of piloting it and wanted to waste no time in getting him out of here for a while." Zanzer lowly chuckled.

"It almost sounds like you care for him some extent." Malcolm sighed.

"You know what, at the end of the day, he is a citizen of Remma. I can't be even somewhat responsible for the death of one of my own city's citizens."

Just then, a loud static rang throughout the room. The two men looked towards the wall in front of Malcolm's desk to see a large holographic image trying to come through. Malcolm himself returned to his desk to get a better visual of what he was seeing. He was able to make out Thomas's face as it flashed for a few seconds.

"Yes, we can hear you a little bit," the president confirmed to the guard's unbalanced voice. The signal quickly stabilized as Thomas looked relieved.

"I finally managed to get through to you," he exclaimed. "I've been trying several times for the past five minutes or so."

"Well here I am." Malcolm wanted to get straight to the point. "So what's your status? Any finds?"

"Nope."

"You have to be kidding me. It's been who-knows-how-long and you two haven't gotten anything yet? Good lord."

"Well we would have if we didn't have a run-in first."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Thomas gathered himself before explaining.

"We got here not too too long ago and found out that the Backdraft Group was looking for something here."

"What?" the president demanded. "The Backdraft Group was there?"

"Mhmmm. We ended up getting into a fight with them, but they ended up leaving before either of us could win."

"I see." He wasn't actually too surprised given the combat statistics of the Liger Zero and the Dibison. However, he still didn't think the Backdraft Group would show up there again. "Then what did happen exactly?"

"I'm not too sure since I ended up getting knocked out. This goofball here says some bright pink thing rose into the sky and took off before their commander decided to chase it. You'll have to ask him."

The transmission then briefly cut off before switching to Ven.

"So elaborate for me why don't you," Malcolm ordered. Ven followed through.

"There's not too much more that I can really say. But before their commander took chase, I encountered him face-to-face on the ground since he temporarily disabled my zoid. I think his name was Ragnarok or something."

They could hear Thomas cursing him out in the background since Ven not being sure about his words was making him look bad. Zanzer remained quiet about it the whole time as he didn't know what to make of it. Malcolm, however, was growing particularly worrisome. A personal encounter with Ragnarok always spelled bad news for the other person involved and whatever was with them. More than anything else, he was worried about the Liger Zero's condition.

"So did the Liger Zero take damage?"

"Nothing really noticeable," Ven lied. He knew that if he tried to ramble on about the 'object' that he had just seen, the president would've just given him more verbal abuse.

"That's good to hear. In that case, I assume everything is currently fine with you two, or…ahem, excuse me…you three," he said, referring to the barely visible Aero as he could hardly see him in the backseat. Thomas decided to jump back into the conversation as he took over the video relay.

"Yes. We're just wondering if you have anything else to say due to us encountering Backdraft interference over here."

There was a long pause of silence with everyone anticipating what Malcolm might have to say. He, too, was thinking about it and wasn't quite sure if he wanted to make any changes to the mission. There was a lot of things to be gained from this but also an air of suspicion. What was the Backdraft Group doing there in the forest today? And what was so important about their own operation that Ragnarok had to be there? Whatever the answers were, he came to a conclusion for the two pilots.

"I'm calling off the mission," Malcolm declared to everyone that could hear him. Ven did whatever he could to keep his face from visibly lighting up as he knew the old man would most likely not take nicely to it. Regardless, he was hoping this would mean for a chance to have no stress on him for a while. At the same time, Thomas was surprised by what the president just said. He knew he was pissed off today, so rationality was completely unexpected. Zanzer felt irrelevant about the whole thing, or looked like he did. "However, I will want to further investigate things later on. You two will be involved in some way or another, so don't get too happy."

"Understood," the blue-haired guard confirmed. "But may I make one small request, Mr. President?"

"Go on."

Thomas was nervous to ask such a thing but went for it anyway.

"Is there anyway for us to get back to you much quicker? If we just walk again, knowing that the Backdraft Group is somewhere in the air, we could run into more trouble."

Malcolm laughed quietly since he knew what the two were asking for. They wanted a Whale King to come pick them up, much like how one had done so for him the previous day. However, he would not comply.

"No. As much as I know you wish I had an answer, I don't. We're currently preparing the rest of our Whale Kings for other operations. You'll just have to make do. You guys made it there in one piece, though, so coming back should not be a problem, especially since you'll be traveling through Commission territory. Now, I expect to see you two by midday tomorrow. Make a rest stop somewhere along the way if you must. I'll contact the various inns nearest to you so that they know to expect a Dibison and the Liger Zero to stop by."

"Alright. Yes, Sir. We'll see you then, Sir."

Then and there, Malcolm cut the transmission off.

"It was me who taught him to address you like that," Zanzer stated.

"No surprise there," Malcolm noted. "You always did know how to do your job well. Just make sure to keep on passing on more of your traits to that underling security guard."

* * *

"Well that didn't go as well as I had hoped," Ven said, momentarily kicking back inside the cockpit. This agitated the liger as the teenagers feet were resting against the hatch itself. "Still, it's better than what would've happened if we didn't contact him. At least now we're cut off."

"_Do you mind?"_ Zero demanded

"Not really," he joked.

"Of course a kid would be happy with that," Thomas sneered. He didn't think completing the mission would be much work for them at all, so the reward would be worth it. "You probably wouldn't have gotten a cash reward or a medal for this anyhow."

"Oh, just cut it out. We don't know what the hell we would've actually encountered anyway."

"My sensors would've kept us safe!" Ven was then able to identify a weak spot in the cocky guard.

"Awwww, look at who's now going against the president? I'm _clearly_ not as single-handed as I thought I was," he teased.

Thomas's annoyance was boiling rapidly as he stared into the view of Ven. The teenage pilot laughed while looking at the guard's intense expression.

"Why you little…"

"Just calm down already, I was only kidding. You government people are always so serious." Zero's pilot moved out of his relaxed position and put on his much more determined expression. "Anyway, I think we should move out of here. You know how far the closest rest stop is?"

Meanwhile, Thomas was still growling. He was very hesitant to respond, but activated a map system which he had personally implemented into BEEK.

"Yes…" he sighed. "It's about thirty minutes from here. Same direction we came from."

"Then we're out," Ven declared. He turned the Liger Zero to take his leave. "Or just me. I'm not waiting for you."

"Kid, I'm the law, so _I_ take the lead."

In just a couple seconds BEEK was forced to right in front of the feline.

"Sure, fine. Whatever, I just want to get out of here."

The two zoids kept their sounds low. They didn't quite know what to make of their pilots' banter.

"_Humans sure are weird,"_ Zero said.

"_You haven't seen and heard the worst."_

* * *

Within half an hour, both Ven and Thomas spotted a nearby inn and parked Liger Zero and BEEK outside. The two brothers inside the feline zoid still kept on looking at the inn in shock. They've been to various inns in Remma before, but this one was something else. It looked as if its walls were made of the same advanced metal plating the Zi Tower was made up of. As if that wasn't enough, it reached fifty stories high and even managed to intimidate the feline and the bison to some degree.

"_That thing is huge,"_ Zero commented.

"_Not too many places I've been to have a building of that size."_ At the same time, both Ven's and Aero's senses of insecurity were building.

"You still sure that this is just an inn?" queried Ven.

"Of course," the guard responded. "I've stopped here many times in the past. The inside of it is nowhere near as glamorous as the parts you're currently seeing." His own cockpit opened to allow him to jump right out to meet the surface. "Don't waste my time. Hurry up!"

"Look, I'm coming!"

He raised the safety harness up off of him and neatened up his clothing.

_Jesus, I'm still wearing this uniform. It must be really dirty right now given what's happened since I put it on._

Once he was done with that, he turned around to pick up Aero out of his seat. The seemingly stoned expression was a reminder that he still needed to talk with the kid.

"Whatever happened earlier, something happened to you, huh?"

Aero brought his head up to meet his brother's eyes and responded with an 'I guess'.

"As soon as we get in our room, you and I will have a discussion about this. It's something I'll need to know about since I'm pretty much responsible for you."

With that, Ven picked up the black-haired preteen and approached the edge of the opening cockpit. He stared down at the ground, realizing he had to learn to do a certain something sooner or later.

"What, you haven't jumped down from a zoid before?" Thomas teased. Just by looking at Ven's questionable face, he figured out the answer. His hand immediately met his face. "Oh, you've got to be joking. You can pilot a zoid well but not jump off of one?"

"_Just ignore him,"_ Zero recommended. _"Here, I'll help you do-"_

"No, don't," Ven ordered. "I'll probably need to do this at some point. I may as well get good at it now."

"_Okay, fine. Just don't cry to me if you break something."_

Ven called out to his coworker, "I can do this!"

"Then do it! Just land on the balls of your feet and you'll be fine."

The teenager looked at the ground and thought, _Here goes nothing!_

Bending his knees, he pushed himself off of Zero's head and came zooming to the paved ground. When all was said and done, he found himself bending down with one hand on the ground and a leg slightly pulled back. His other leg and arm were used to keep Aero secure.

"Wow," the pilot exclaimed. "I can do it! It's not all that hard either!"

However, Aero didn't take the action too fondly. He looked at Ven with an expression that read: what the hell were you thinking?

"Congrats," Thomas dryly praised with dim eyebrows. "Now let's get inside." Ven's smile quickly died when the guard turned to go inside the large structure.

_He can't admire, can he?_

Done absorbing his accomplishment, he put Aero down, he got back up onto his heels, and strolled towards the automatic spinning doors that led into the large structure. However, at the last second, he veered his head to look back at his own zoid.

"You stay fine, okay?"

"_Meh, not a problem. I'm pretty confident this big ol' hunk right here will willingly take some hits for me."_

"_Get outta here, mate."_

Ven nodded while he and his younger brother left the two zoids alone.

* * *

**Liger Zero's POV**

Here I am again, waiting. I truly wonder when that word will no longer have a relation to me. But at the very least, it will be sticking with me for the night. My partner has gone again, of his own free will this time. I can't say I blame him since I'm sure sleeping in a metallic atmosphere isn't the most comfortable thing any person could do.

Anyway, action hit me again. It always has come in massive doses and I wonder if that's how this next 'new life' of mine is gonna play out. Well I guess since I'm a 'peace protector' or whatever my old comrades would refer to me as, that's to be expected. However, an era of nonfighting is just what I want for once. I've been getting old yet feel young deep down. Waiting does that to ya.

Beyond that, the one thing I cannot get off my mind is that sphere 'thing' I saw earlier. Whatever it was, the aura it gave off was both powerful and strange. In some ways, it felt old and familiar to me. And this new-founded Backdraft Group seems to want it, which means it could potentially be dangerous. More than anything else, I'd best be on my claws.

* * *

_I hope nothing actually happens out there,_ Ven worried, _cause if something does, I won't be able to do anything about it._

His worries went away, though, as did Aero's as soon as they saw the interior of the inn.

_No way. This has to be more than just an inn. This must be a grand resort or something._

The brothers stood there awestruck at the sight of a casino and several small restaurants in the background. On Planet Zi, your typical casino is shaded with glam colors and is filled to the brim with slot machines, gambling, and the various other things you'd come to expect. The restaurants offer everything a customer could want, with them all carrying the all-you-can-eat theme. The roofs were also gorgeous with all the lights being chandeliers. The whole place was a spectacle as people spoke and yelled loudly.

At the corner of the room they could see Thomas speaking to a young lady behind a desk. It almost looked as if he was trying to 'strike up some game.' Their only lead was him, so Ven put Aero down before quickly walking towards them. Aero followed suit, almost emulating his brother's posture. The woman was the first to notice them as they came close. Her greeting caught Thomas's attention, so he turned his head to see who she was talking to.

"Took you guys long enough," he said. Ven rolled his eyes. "They're the ones who I said was with me."

"Yes, I could tell by the description you gave me," the lady reminded. "Here's your guys' room keys, by the way. Rooms 3704 and 3705 are yours."

"Thank you." Thomas took the cards and handed one of them to Ven. As they had what they came for, the three of them left the woman and headed towards the elevators that would take them to their rooms.

"This is no inn," Ven piped.

"Of course it is," he got as a response. "Remma's funding for people service just hasn't been all that for the past few years. And by the way, you haven't seen anything yet."

As soon as Thomas finished that statement, he looked at the bar area and noticed several women starting to wink at him. He stopped in his tracks as he took in the sight of all of them. His sudden change in motion took Ven and Aero off guard as they looked back to see what was going on. His drooling face said enough.

_No, really…_

The finely-shaped women kept on making gestures to lure him in. He understood their signals, so he turned to look at Ven and quickly told him some overwhelming information.

"Okay, here at eleven o'clock in the morning. No talking to me anytime before that, alright? That means no texting, no calling, no running up to me while here, nothing! Hell, do your best to not even notice me if we cross paths. Why, you ask? I have 'business' that I must attend to while I'm here. I'll see you in the morning!"

Without even giving Ven a chance, Thomas ditched the two of them to go meet the girls. His posture was uptight with his chin high and eyes narrow. His arms made strong swinging motions as he approached them.

"Look at him looking all terrible," Ven said to his younger brother. (Sweatdrops)

"Yeah."

* * *

Ven and Aero both stood in front of a door with a sign on it that read: 3704. It was their room, with Ven pushing their room's card key into the slot. As soon as the light above it flashed green, he pushed the door open gently. He found the light switch and flipped it on so they could see what the rectangular-shaped room looked like. Again, it was a sight to behold as the tanned colors of the smooth stone walls reflected brightly. There were two beds parallel to each other that were each neatly made with brown covers for both of them. The lamps themselves managed to use their light to create a shallow ambience that was very relaxing.

Ven saw the bed closest to him and immediately jumped onto it. Once he did, he felt like it must've been years since his muscles felt so free. He was able to perfectly relax them. Also, the bedroom air made for a nice refreshment after having been so caught up in the Commission's and Backdraft's tangles. Aero was enjoying himself as well at the same time as he took a rest break on the next bed.

"You okay over there?" Ven asked his younger brother.

"Yeah…I think so," Aero distantly replied.

"What's up with the vague answer?"

"It's just…it was very scary today." Right then and there, Ven remembered what he both wanted and needed to do.

"Oh yeah, by the way…"

Ven sat up in his bed to look at Aero.

"…You still need to tell me what happened earlier today."

"Why must I tell you everything?" the preteen whined.

"Because as far as I can tell, I'm going to be wrapped up in the government's shit for a long time. And besides, you're also a family member of mine. A younger one as well, so I'm expected to look out for you."

"I can take care of myself."

"I told myself the same thing a while back and look at where I ended up. Away from Mom, Dad, and You temporarily."

Aero just rolled his body over to the side so that he couldn't see his older brother.

"Just tell me. I can guarantee you that as the Liger Zero's pilot, I'm going to be asked questions by some officials about what I saw back there. I doubt they'll demand for an in-depth answer, but you never know."

Just like Ven had before (and still was), Aero was having a hard time taking in everything that had happened. At his age, it was much harder for anyone to do. You're still coming to grips with what and who you are becoming. As a result, tears from overwhelming emotions started to slowly stroll out of his eyes again.

"Look, it helps to get these things off your chest, anyway."

"I don't know…*sniffle*…it's just too much."

"I know it's a lot, but growin' up ain't what it's made out to be. You face these terrifying moments and just have to make what you can out of them."

Aero kept on sniffling and breathing heavily. Ven found an unused handkerchief and walked over to the preteen kid to give it to him.

"So please, just tell me."

Aero managed to gradually calm himself down and was semi-able to control some of his tears. He used the handkerchief to wipe them off before he began to tell what he could recall.

"Well first…" he started, stifling in between a sniffle, "…there was this scary voice talking to me from nowhere…"

"Uh huh." Ven didn't know what to make of that bit.

"And then I…kept going down the cave. At the end of it, I saw this picture of a…wolf-type zoid. I don't know what it's called. Then everything around me lighted up. Then I saw some…pink thing in the air..."

"So what exactly did this voice say to you?"

"It said…*sniffle*…something about me being 'one.' That's all I can remember."

Ven went back to sit on his bed as he thought about what Aero had told him. A voice that spoke to him? Him being one? What did all this mean? He didn't doubt that his younger brother was lying because hearing zoids speak to you, plus seeing a giant pink ball in the sky was enough to convince him that strangeness was real.

_Damn, things aren't easing up._

Aero noticed that his brother was silent and meekly asked him a question.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Ven ignored his confused feelings and smiled as Aero looked back at him. "You just get some rest. You'll need it."

And when he thought about it, he himself would probably need a lot of rest as well.


	11. A Midnight to Remember

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters (excluding Aero) and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**A Midnight to be Remembered**

Many say that nighttime is the swiftest part of the day, that it goes by in an instant. However, not all can agree. At least, not all the time, that is…

The sun by now was completely gone, with Planet Zi's moons being all that provided light in the darkness that was surrounding Ragnarok's Raynos. Even to this hour, he was still trailing the pink sphere.

_Jesus, where the hell is this thing headed?_

As the next few minutes went by, the Backdraft commander noticed that it was beginning to slow down by several miles. It then turned at a sharp ninety degree angle pointing downwards, heading straight into the middle of an old and destroyed temple. The temple itself was surrounded by scattered knocked-down pillars that housed off the large Zi trees that formed a circle around it.

Ragnarok made a smooth swerve to the ground to find a landing spot as the pink sphere levitated only a few yards in front of the temple. The Raynos found a rather rocky surface to stand on with its two hind legs. Ragnarok forced them to dig into the ground in order to make sure his zoid remained balanced.

The covering above him lifted up so he could get a better image of the thing. He stayed in the black Raynos in case it did anything particularly dangerous. The target kept on letting off strange humming noises that gradually became louder. Its color then began to pulsate as if something were about to erupt.

_I better stay on my guard,_ the commander thought. He was already breaking a small sweat. The sense of not knowing what may happen is always a disturbing one, regardless of what you do and who you are. _It could blow for all I know._

His worries began to intensify, however, once he saw that the sphere-shaped object was taking an awkward shape. It first became smaller before jagged edges started to protrude from it. The object slowly molded into a more recognizable shape that resembled a canine. As the less significant details began to form, the zoid became startlingly recognizable.

_Hold on…,_ he wondered, _That's a Konig Wolf!_

The pink color quickly deteriorated to display a wolf-type zoid of darker colors. The armor itself was of a dark blue color while the interior parts all shared the same shade of black, just like in all other zoids. The hoses displayed blue tinges while the ears and boosters had black tips. The snout and chest area both held a sharp point that highlighted its ferocity and daunting nature. The Backdraft commander was stunned by its intimidating appearance, expecting to see something that seemed like it would hardly be a chore in some form or another.

At that point, he could hear the telepathic voice again as it told him, _Not one. Not one at all. Where is one? He was by my side._

"Argh, shit," Ragnarok yelled as he tried to cover his ears. The low feminine voice was loud in his head and was extremely annoying. "So you are what I heard earlier."

The Konig Wolf's faint orange eyes beamed up to look at him. As the commander locked sights with it, he realized that more than anything else, he needed to _move._

_Death_, it sounded into his mind. To him, it rang as a "get out of my way". The roof came back over him before he repositioned the pteranodon. The black zoid jetted back into the air to avoid the particle shots from the Konig Wolf's multi-dischargers. The barrels were located on its back, similar to a Dibison.

"This thing is sentient as well?" the commander pondered. "I'm gonna need some help with this. Men, dispatch!" While he had been tracking the target, he called back to the base to request support for half a dozen more Guystings to keep track of where he was headed. If he was to stop anywhere, they were to rendezvous at that point.

"We follow you. Commencing Stealth formation!"

Ragnarok told them to hurry it up since no one knew what the new zoid's next reaction would be. If it ran off, he would be able to chase it easily, but he'd rather things not be further complicated. No, not after what had already been done earlier in the day.

Each of the Guystings found a hiding spot amidst the ruins and trees to keep the Konig Wolf from spotting them. It was still focusing its attention on the one who had previously disturbed it.

"We're going to capture the target," Ragnarok announced to all the Backdraft pilots down below him. "Some of you should be loaded with electrical conductor nets. We'll have to drag it back to base to allow our other troops to work on the maintenance of our zoids."

Each of the troops signaled that they heard him. The commander kept flying around the skies above the landscape to keep the Konig Wolf's attention locked on him. As he was doing this, a couple of the Guystings quietly and slowly moved through the foliage and around the pillars to get closer and to obtain better precision. When the moment seemed right, two of them each shot out a small ball (relative to the size of an average zoid) from a portable pod that was mounted on top of them. Once the balls were vertical to the blue zoid's position, they exploded to reveal the condensed nets inside of them. Their edges traveled to all sides of the zoid before shocking its command system circuits. The Konig Wolf howled and collapsed to the ground.

"Good job, all of you," Ragnarok congratulated each of them. "Now let's roll this thing over and tie up the nets so that we can return to base."

* * *

Ven and Aero were both snoozing lazily in their own beds until the sun's light shown through the curtains and right into the older teenager's eyes. The preteen's head was facing away from it, so he continued to rest soundlessly.

Ven groaned before sitting up and opening his eyes. The brightness of the outdoors told him one thing: that today was more than likely going to be another long day. He and the rest of his crew were going to have to tread back to the Zi Tower, in Remma, and talk with the president some more about what had happened.

"Ah, damn," he cursed as he thought about all of that. "Well there's no use in complaining over all this. I might as well get used to it since it doesn't seem like anything will be changing any time soon."

He looked over at his brother to see him getting the sleep he desired. He then turned to look at the alarm clock, which told him that it was eight o'clock in the morning.

_Just three more hours,_ he remembered. _They must have a lot of good breakfast food around in here as well. I'll have to keep Aero by my side, though…_

The pilot slowly stepped out of his bed to get up and stretch. He didn't realize how stiff his muscles had been until he raised his arms up. He did various other stretches to reawaken his body. Once he felt comfortable, he walked beside the darker-haired kid and gently shook his body.

"Time for you to get up, Sleepyhead," Ven teased. Aero stirred around in his bed, as if he was trying to ignore the light pushing. He couldn't take it anymore, though, after about ten more seconds.

"…What?" Aero mumbled. If he could've, he would have kept his eyes closed for several more hours.

"You and I need to get out for our BIG day!" Ven was lying but needed to use something to completely wake him up. Let's just say success was met.

The preteen's eyes shot open as he sat up and gasped.

"Big day! OH BOY! What are we doing?"

Ven laughed at his younger brother's excitable nature.

"Haha," he chuckled, rubbing the kid's head gently. "Come on, you and I just need to get some good breakfast. I heard a lot about what they serve here in the morning during my self-tour last night."

Aero frowned.

"Heeeeeyyyyyyyyy!"

"Oh, suck it."

"Meanie."

Ven moved over to the desk that had one extra pair of male underwear, a T-shirt, and a pair shorts laid out on top of it. In this day and age, it was common for inns, hotels, and motels to leave new clothing for free in the rooms as it seemed to aid business in the areas around them. Plus, their reviews got better from doing so.

"By the way, put these on."

He tossed the clothes over to Aero for him to change into. His shirt and pants had become tattered over the hours and needed to be done away with.

"You're not changing?" Aero criticized.

"Nope. I'll need to wear this in case there is security of some sort that we'll need to bypass. And wearing this will save me from some aggression since people will become suspicious if they see someone in ordinary clothing piloting the Liger Zero."

To make himself look as good as he could, he swept off anything that was on him. It felt weird wearing the same thing for what would be the third day in a row, but he knew he'd make do.

As soon as Aero finished putting on the new clothes, they walked out the door and down the hallway to the elevators. It took a few minutes, but a set of doors finally opened for them and allowed them to proceed downwards towards the lobby. They were surprised by how packed it was in there and how even more packed the restaurants would be. Once they got out and looked around, it seemed as if there were hardly any free tables to sit at.

"Let's just keep moving," Ven told Aero. It wasn't long until he spotted a Café that had quiet a few empty seats to sit in. "Looks like this will be a good place."

Meanwhile, Aero had been looking at a small at a small gift shop filled with zoids toys and snuck in while Ven had gone elsewhere. He wanted to go in because he was always loved to look at and play with miniature Zoids models, of which the shop looked to be in abundance of. The preteen kept moving from one model to another. He looked at each one with a delighted expression and moved their parts around. However, after having gotten lost in his excitement, he accidentally broke off a part of one of them. He never really thought about it, but it was a model of a blue Konig Wolf whose armor he had partially chipped. The store clerk saw what happened and called to him.

"You're gonna have to buy that now, you know." the clerk informed him. He was a young man whose long silver hair made him stand out.

"Sorry," Aero apologized. "I don't think I have anything to pay with." The kid searched the pockets of his new shorts to see if there was actually any cash left behind in it. None was to be found and he looked at the taller man as he shook in his spot. He walked over to the cash register while he took his hands out. He picked up the damaged zoid model and placed it on the counter between them.

The store clerk picked up the toy to get a better visual of what was damaged. Given it was the blue Konig Wolf model, he seemed rather interested…

And even moreso given the face of the one responsible for its chipped off piece.

"Actually, you know what?" he said as he looked at it intricately, flipping it over. "You're not gonna need any money." Aero was surprised.

"Really?"

"Yes… Just… I'll need your help for a second in the other room. We should be able to fix this. Here, follow me."

The suspicious store clerk turned to his right to go through a door with an "employees only" label on it. Aero grew concerned about who this guy really seemed to be, but decided to go in with him anyway to avoid any trouble.

He wasn't shocked at all when he stepped inside the next room. It was a brightly lit area with various stacks of papers and gift shop products placed everywhere. To him, this room looked like heaven given all the toy zoid parts and model kits laid out everywhere. If he was allowed to he would've raked through each and every single one of them. The store clerk was spotted sitting at a table with two chairs on opposite sides.

"Just sit right here," the clerk told him. "I just need to get a special type of glue and this should be done and over with." The middle-aged man stood up from his seat to go through a large materials box that was just around the corner. He was quick to plow through it and picked out something that resembled a hot glue gun, only that it was plated in thick white armor. "I'm sure this will do the trick."

As he walked back, Aero stared at the man's long silver hair. It was rare to encounter anyone whose hair was the same color as his older brother's. He'd seen pictures, but never met another silver-haired person face-to-face. At the same time, its slight sway gave off a disturbing feeling, as if something wasn't quite right. The store clerk took his seat again and held up the glue gun.

"Have you ever used one of these?" he asked. The kid shook his head. "Guess I'll have to show you then. But to make things easier, what's your name?"

Aero stared at him for a second but gave no response.

"Well?"

As strange as he seemed, he responded, "It's Aero."

"Aero, huh? Not exactly a common name around here," the clerk laughed. "Anyway, my name is Ken. Just thought I'd tell you that in case you needed to refer to me for anything." The preteen gave him a side look. "Don't worry about it. You probably won't need to."

Ken turned the glue gun slightly to highlight the trigger with his fingers.

"Now Aero, this is-"

"Why don't you do it yourself?" Aero butted in.

"Ah, but since you don't have any cash to buy it, I've gotta make you pay somehow. Fixing it yourself is the only way."

The disturbed kid puckered his lips slightly to show his discontent. Learning was never something he liked to do. At all. Whenever he was in school, dozing off was what he did best. Bad grades typically came as a result, but he didn't care. He just wanted to have fun with his time.

"So as I was saying… You see this part?"

Aero nodded.

"It's the trigger. You pull it hard and the glue comes out of the tip. And when I say hard, I mean you have to _really_ push down on it. Here, try it out."

Ken handed the metallic tool to him so that he could get a feel for it. When he tried it, he had to grip it with as strong a fist as he could before glue came out. It was hot and steaming, quick enough to solidify that, with it, putting together miniature toys was a fast and easy process.

"You've got the hang of it," Ken commented. He picked up the chipped off armor piece and the zoid model. "Just piece these together and we're set."

Looking at the model, the preteen noticed that it resembled the picture he saw in the cave. To some extent, it frightened him a little.

_Weird,_ he thought. He took the items from Ken's hands and immediately got to work. Aero was always a big fan of zoids models and loved to customize them, so piecing things together was nothing new for him. It only took him less than a minute to get the task done. Once it seemed to be fixed, he gave it back to the clerk to see what he thought of it.

"Well done," he thanked. He stared at it again as if he was curious about something. This time his personality was really starting to get to Aero as the kid shifted around in his seat uncomfortably. "Looking at it, wouldn't you say it's a very interesting zoid?"

The question seemed to come out of nowhere. Aero had no idea how to respond. Sure it looked different, but he never thought deeply about a zoid's appearance.

"I guess so…" he murmured.

"That's a very uninteresting answer." Ken continued to fiddle around with the toy before setting it down between them. "Here, I'll take that," he said, referring to the hot glue gun and reaching for it. Aero gave it to him without any thought and watched as the man put it back where he had obtained it. "You know, they say two and two go together."

The store clerk returned to his respective seat and folded his hands. Now the dark-haired kid was really starting to have second thoughts.

"I can only say that I'm a firm believer as such myself. Most especially because of some…"

He paused.

"…experience."

Aero twitched his eyebrow, now a bit more interested than scared. He paid close attention to each of his words but still had one wonder on his mind.

"You're telling me this?"

"Yes, I am," the clerk confirmed. "It's more or less because I have a…deal to make. Yes, let me put it that way."

There was a few seconds of silence as Ken spun the miniature Konig Wolf around with his finger.

"Let me ask you this: do you like this zoid?"

"It looks cool to me."

"Cool to you, cool, cool." He stopped playing with it momentarily. "I just wanted to know."

"But why?"

"Why? Well because to me, as a store clerk, your opinion matters."

Ken leaned in towards Aero to whisper something.

"I like to keep my customers happy."

"I'm happy?" the preteen threw back. Ken chuckled in response and fell back into his chair.

"If you're not, I could definitely make you so. Look, I know this all seems strange, with us sitting in here and talking and all, but I'm trying to do business. Us store clerks always try to." He picked up the repaired Konig Wolf model and narrowly stared at Aero.

"This could be yours if you rrreeeaaalllyyy want it to be. In some form or another."

"Really?" Aero beamed excitedly. Then he thought about what the clerk said for a second. "But wait… What do you mean by 'some form or another'?"

"Oh ho ho…" Ken laughed. "That's the fun part about this whole thing. The mystery. Sadly, as part of my business rules, I can't tell you everything. But if you wanna find out, there's something you have to do."

He began lightly tossing the toy in the air and catching it.

"Do you have any family members?"

"Yeah," Aero replied, unknowing that that kind of information should never be told to a stranger.

"Any siblings, by any chance?" Ken knew the answer before it came but didn't want to end up spoiling what he had in mind.

"An older brother. That's it."

"Then here's what you need to do: stick by him. Do as he says.

Aero hated the last part and protested, "But he can't tell me what to-"

"You want your prize?" the kid was reminded. Ken was waving the toy in his hand teasingly. "You need to stick to what I say."

The dark-haired kid folded his arms but quickly did away with his discontent.

"Excellent. That's all there is to it."

"And how will I get my toy?" Aero demanded.

"Whoa, easy there." He wanted to calm the kid before he went on, "Do you believe in fate? Or destiny? Or any of that so-called 'crap'?"

"I guess…maybe…"

"Well then you'll get lucky."

"YAY!" Ken laughed again. Watching youthful people get super excited and act so bipolar was always a funny thing in his mind.

"Again, you have to actually believe in it, though. And you have to not get ahead of yourself as well. You understand that much?"

"Yes I do!"

"In that case we're done in here. Off you go."

Ken walked up to the door to open it for Aero so that he could leave. However, as soon as the kid was about to exit, he wanted to confirm something.

"Are you sure about all of this?" Aero asked.

"I'd be fired if it turned out I was lying. And with things they way they are, I value my job greatly." The store clerk smiled at him before he left. Aero did the same in return and took off. A lot of other people were watching him as he left, wondering what a little kid had been doing in there.

"Thanks," he yelled to Ken.

Right when he left the "clerk's" sight, the silver-haired man slammed the door shut. He walked back to the table to look at the model of the dark blue Konig Wolf.

"You'd better treat him well," he spoke to it, "otherwise, everything will be screwed up."

Meanwhile, a muffled voice could be heard coming from behind another locked door.

"Quiet, You! I'm running this store now." The real store clerk became even louder to protest.

_Hmmm, let's see here…,_ Ken pondered. _By now, the Backdraft Group should have that zoid, which means that I may wanna speed things up a little. In that case…_

He went towards one of the other boxes and pulled out a standard handgun from it. Checking to see if it was loaded, he reached his hand in again to grab a single bullet. It was all one would need to initate a plan.

…_a little party should do the trick._

* * *

Ven was standing at the back of the Café's growing long line. He kept looking inside the restaurant to see what was going on and what kind of food they were serving. Everything that he saw on the plates looked delicious. There were pancakes, toast, scrambled eggs, all of which seemed to be well-done.

"Hey Aero, does this place look good to you?"

He waited for a response to come and was surprised when one didn't. Aero always loved the breakfast food that restaurants served, so how come he said nothing? It was only when he looked to his side that he noticed Aero was gone.

"What the…!"

The pilot began frantically searching around for his younger brother. He looked as far as he could amongst the massive crowd of people inside the building but couldn't find him anywhere. The teenager left the line to go hunt for him and maybe ask for Thomas to help him out.

"AERO," he called out loud. A lot of faces turned to look at him but he didn't care. Just like he had in the cave, Ven kept shouting the name. When he still couldn't find him, he picked up his walking pace. He prayed that the kid hadn't gone far.

He went to the elevators to see if he had gone back there for some reason. Nope. He searched the other restaurants. Still nothing. The casino? You wish. The gaming area and the bar? Better luck next time.

Then he passed by a gift shop. Boy oh boy, was he glad to see his brother come running out from it and then towards him.

"Aero! Thank god, you're fine! Where the hell were you?" The smaller kid pointed to the shop behind him that had all the zoid models. "That whole time? I know you love those action figures, but gimme a break!"

"No," he declared. "They're too much fun!"

"Right, at your age," Ven affirmed. "At least you're okay. Just don't _ever_ run off like that again. I don't know what I'd do if Mom, Dad, or the President found out that you disappeared and never came back."

"Hey, I knew where to find you."

"What, out here? Haha, you're so funny…"

"Well I did. Of course you'd come searching for me!" Ven rolled his eyes in response.

"Why do you gotta be a chore?"

"C'mon, I gotta have fun," exclaimed Aero.

"Yeah, well… Oh nevermind. All that matters is that you're fine now. Let's just get back into the line."

However, that would be disrupted. Only a couple steps into their travel back did they hear a loud bang that made everbody in the inn freeze. As soon as the next few seconds passed, everyone was scrambling about the place in fear.

"What was that?" screamed Ven over the noise. Aero thought it came from the gift shop and became both suspicious and worried again. "Whatever. Let's just go find Thomas and then get out of here."

"But didn't he say that he didn't want you to-"

"Oh please, as if those girls stuck by him. Especially right now. He's probably at the bar."

The duo struggled to move through the crowd and almost felt as if they were going to get knocked over and trampled. It was going to take a while before the place cleared out and moving around would be easier, so they'd just have to deal with it. Luckily for them the bar was closeby. As they looked harder, a recognizable tuft of blue hair became visible, along with several slap marks right below it.

"THOMAS!"

The Commission guard looked for the source of the voice and saw Ven trying to sift through the crowd to get to him. It wasn't until the teenager came closer, along with his younger brother, that he noticed the damage done to his face.

"What the hell happened to you?" Ven queried. Thomas just groaned. "Oh yeah, let me guess…"

"She said she loved me," he moaned, almost breaking into a sob. (anime tears)

"Oh god," Ven complained to make fun of him, putting his hand on his face. "Thomas…"

There was a few seconds before his hand slipped back down.

"Anyway, let's get going before we're accidentally killed by these people."

Thomas was thinking about complaining about how he had specifically told Ven not to talk to him, but things had changed. They had to get out of there fast to avoid whatever was causing the ruckus.

The trio knew where the entrance to the building was and tried to move at the same pace as the crowd to get out safely. The doors remained open and they immediately saw their zoids. Ven almost laughed when he saw the number of people that were staring up at the Liger Zero in awe.

"I guess the managers here didn't inform the civilians that we would be showing up," Thomas commented.

"Clearly they didn't."

They fought through the crowd to get to their zoids. Liger Zero and BEEK spotted them almost instantly and lowered their heads to allow their pilots in. The hatches opened and Ven pushed Aero into the backseat while he got in the front. Thomas was getting himself occupied and readying himself to leave the area.

"Everybody make way," he commanded as the cockpits closed. The feline and the bison both roared.

"_THANK you for finally showing up! I was starting to get claustrophobic here,"_ moaned Zero.

"Come on, you could handle it," joked his pilot. "At least we're heading back earlier than we expected. You might've had to endure this for another three hours!"

"_Yeah, joy… So what was going on in there? We heard a loud bang and then people starting pouring out in the masses."_

"Somebody fired a gun somewhere. Not too sure why. We'd best get out of here fast, though. I don't want to get involved in another problem already."

The two zoids left their parking spots and were out on the streets, walking as fast as they could. They had to be even more careful of the people in their cars as there were more going underneath them than normal.

Back in the crowd of civilians stood Ken, this time wearing normal daytime clothes. That consisted of a standard white shirt and beige khakis shorts. There were few people that stood behind him due to his long hair that swayed in the wind. He was smiling at the sight of the Commission zoids leaving.

_Everything's playing out well,_ he told himself in his mind before turning back and going back into the building.

* * *

Word of the operation's success traveled quickly to the Backdraft base. There were already both men and women there throwing parties to celebrate as it was the first major gain they had made in quite a few weeks. If you're as small-scale as the Backdraft Group is, you have to consistently have one victory after another, otherwise morale may falter. But that wasn't on the minds of the people now.

The Raynos and the six Guystings soon became visible in the distance as each of them were helping to pull the Konig Wolf along. Again, Ragnarok had called for more assistance to help keep an eye on anyone that may spot them on the way back. Those zoids quickly returned to their outposts as soon as they could hear the increased amount of cheers back at the base. Backdraft Gustavs rolled out to make the retrieval move along more efficiently.

Once Ragnarok saw the assistance coming, he made the Raynos let go of the nets and zoomed to the hangar.

"You guys take it from here. I need to meet up with The Count," he radioed to the Guystings and Gustavs. They did as they were told and watched as the dark pteranodon landed. The commander leapt out of his zoid and was instantly greeted by the sight of the Backdraft's head leader.

"Just as I ordered, it seems you have met success with this mission."

"Yes, Sir, I have. Although the Commission was there too for some reason or another."

"So I've heard. The news of what happened down there has already hit the airwaves. The news has also told me that there was no winner to that battle either."

"True," Ragnarok confirmed. "The target I had to chase took off in another direction before I could effectively disable the Liger Zero. I honestly don't believe that zoid will be as much of a threat as we've been making it out to be."

"I wouldn't count on that. It is an Ultimate X zoid, a type of zoid that is capable of learning from its past mistakes during battles and correcting them. If you ever encounter it again, things may not be so simple."

"Hrmph." The Backdraft leader turned his head almost selfishly. Thinking of Ultimate X zoids, a question popped into his mind regarding them.

"Say, whatever happened to the other one?"

"The other Ultimate X?"

"Yeah. What was it called again? The Berzerk Fuhrer or something?"

"That is correct. It was supposedly destroyed back when the Backdraft Group was decommissioned one hundred years ago. No word about it has gone around since then."

"I see…" muttered Ragnarok curiously.

"Besides," The Count began, walking past his top commander into the data room, "this zoid we have captured here alone should do us wonders."

"It had better. I didn't go through all of this effort for nothing." The commander trailed him inside and waited for the Konig Wolf to be righted back up and moved into the hangar. It took the Backdraft zoids several minutes to bring it in, but as far as Ragnarok and The Count were concerned, they had all day, although the former wanted to get some rest after the long night that had passed.

As soon as it was brought in, several Backdraft men and women came in to assist in the cleaning of the zoid. Dirt and sand had ridden all over it after being dragged away for the night. Any necessary repairs were also going to be made. But upon further inspection, something in particular stood out to Ragnarok about it. Looking at one of the front paws, he could see a symbol of what looked like a moon above a trio of mountains.

"Do you see that?" he asked The Count, pointing out the symbol to him. It caught and held the bald man's attention.

"Why yes. That's the ancient zoidian symbol for 'midnight'. That must have something to do with why I was detecting something from there."

"Midnight, huh…?"

_Interesting that that's when this thing assumed its current form._

"That will make it easier to identify it if it were ever to leave our grasp. Although I see no reason why that would happen."

But the commander was having second thoughts, particularly about 'not being one'.

"Well for just in case, I recommend that we keep our attention on it tight," Ragnarok suggested. "It does seem to be a very different zoid compared to others."

"Is that so?" The Count said, turning to look at his blue-haired trustworthy. "And why do you come to that conclusion?"

"In my experience, it seems to be capable of sentience to some extent. It doesn't seem to be as active as the Liger Zero, but enough to be potentially problematic."

"But how would you say it's sentient?" This was something that Ragnarok wasn't too sure how he would explain, as he didn't want his boss to think that he was lying.

"It spoke to me…telepathically, apparently."

He was surprised that The Count didn't really say anything. Instead, all he did was laugh under his breath before patting him on the back.

"You know what," the Backdraft boss informed, "you should get some rest. You've had a long day." The commander had no idea what to make of that. Did he believe him? Or did he not? Regardless, it was true that he needed some time off. "I'll call you back when I need you."

Not wanting to disappoint, Ragnarok did the Backdraft salute before he left.

"Aye, aye, Sir."

* * *

**Author's Note:** The Konig Wolf is another original character that belongs to ITman496. Again, give the credit to him.


	12. Not One

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters (excluding Aero and the Konig Wolf) and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**Not One**

The travel back to the Zi Tower was a lot easier and faster than going the other way once Ven, Thomas, Aero, and their zoids managed to get out of the craze that ensued. Reporters were quick to grab a hold of that news as well. Turning on the radio, Ven could hear about all three of the events he was in that occurred in the morning, yesterday, and the day before that. Luckily, no one seemed to heavily pay attention to how much involvement he had. But what did make it into the reports was Liger Zero's presence.

"_I keep hearing my name,"_ Liger protested.

"And you're gonna keep on hearing it," Ven declared. He kept the radio on to hear if there would be anything else important. Beyond the blabber about how the president was feeling, nothing new really came up. The teenager opened up a video communications relay to Thomas. "So Thomas, what do we plan on doing for food?"

"Just keep going," the guard replied. "The food at the Zi Tower is better than anywhere else. And I'm sure someone will suck up to the fact that you're the Liger Zero's 'temporary' pilot and offer you something for free."

"Alright then, cool." The link was turned off and Ven laid back in his seat. "You know what's funny about this? It's the fact that I bet that person will be him."

Aero giggled quietly in response.

"Oh, don't hold anything back, Bro," the pilot ordered as he smiled. "Just have a chill day for once. Hell, that's something I still need to do."

The sun shone brightly on the Zi Tower when it came into view. Creating a shadow amongst the buildingswas a Gravity Ptera that had been that had the task of staying on patrol for several hours. The zoid caught sight of the Liger Zero and the Dibison and immediately signaled to them.

"Hey," Rachel called to Ven and Thomas. Her image displayed in front of them but not so much to their surprise. Given her role of service in the government, they were sort of expecting to see her. "Looks like you guys made it out fine."

"We did," Thomas said bluntly, keeping the Dibison moving forward.

"'Hardly a nice way to put it," she complained. She moved her attention to the silver-haired pilot. "He was good to you, wasn't he?"

"Oh sure, if that's how he wants to put it. He was joyous towards me." Rachel laughed.

"Haha, you'll get used to him. Anyway, the president wants to see you both as soon as possible, so I suggest ya'll pick up the speed!"

The Gravity Ptera was gone in only seconds, the buildings clouding the view of it. Thomas was disappointed since he had felt the need to say something to her. A confession. He'd just have to wait to talk to her later in the day.

Ven saw the base he parked Zero at before and was about to re-enter until Thomas stopped him.

"Don't," the security guard called. "The president said he was working on a specially-designed spot for the Liger Zero. Follow me to it."

The Dibison took a left turn from the base's gate and weaved through various closed-off streets. The feline followed its trail and in minutes was greeted by the sight of a ninety feet-high white rectangular structure. The massive door that covered almost an entire side slowly opened to reveal several working mechanisms. They were all bundled together on the sides and formed a design that resembled something of an Escher drawing. Liger Zero trudged in to take in the magnificent sight. To a machine such as him, the interior design is a work of art.

"_Wow…"_ he growled. What amazed him even more was the fact that everything seemed to be in perfect working order.

"_Lucky you that you get such a fancy place,"_ complained BEEK. He was remaining outside as the door began to come down again.

"_What's your place like?"_

"_A wreck. It's almost like my pilot makes it a point to douse the room he places me in with his shit."_

"I'll be seeing you again in a few minutes," Thomas called to Ven. The teenager barely responded as he and Aero were too taking in everything that they were seeing. As soon as the light from the outside was gone, lights on the ceiling, walls, and evening on some spots on the ground lit up. The smaller ones gave off an eerie glow that both seemed disturbing and cool at the same time.

"It's a pretty neat place he gave us."

"_So he's actually going to let you pilot me now?"_

"Probably. When I spoke to him earlier, it seemed like he was lightening up about this whole deal."

"_Well whether he issues you to me or not, I somehow get the feeling that you'll be sitting in me a lot."_

"I'm sure that by now he realizes that things between you and me work out fine. I wouldn't really worry about it."

The covering lifted up as Ven stood to his full height. It was only when he could see the room without having to stare through a transparency did everything look truly amazing. The lighting of it all seemed almost magical. Aero was mesmerized by it as well while Ven was picking him up. The teenager leapt out of the zoid before putting his brother back on his feat and searched for an exit. They saw one metallic door slightly taller than Ven and noticed it was decorative as well. The lining of the plates formed a maze-like design that was fun to look at.

The door was automatic and slid open once the brothers came within three feet of it. Both of them were surprised when they saw that it didn't lead outside. No, instead what they were greeted by was a medium-length stairway going upwards. At the end of it was a large green tube-shaped object with a control panel inside.

"What is this?" Aero asked when they stopped at the top.

"'Must be a transporter of some sort." It, too, had its own door that opened up for them. "Come on, let's get inside. This thing wasn't placed here for nothing."

Ven and Aero entered the transporter and looked down at the control panel. The device had its own built-in computer system equipped with voice software.

"Welcome to the BART transportation service," it spoke. "We are constantly aware of any and all personnel who wish for the easiest method of transportation. We are here to offer you a list of choice locations. Of which would you like to visit?"

"The Zi Tower," Ven answered. It took a moment before anything happened.

"Pending… Pending… Location found. Please remain patient as we transport you to your choice location."

The door shut abruptly. The tube then traveled upwards towards an opening that pointed up at the sky. The two humans were overcome by the brightness of the sun as it shone in their eyes and covered them. It took them a moment to realize that the object they were in wasn't actually _connected to anything_.

"What the hell is this really?"

"I don't know," Aero panicked. And before either of them knew it, they were hovering above the city. The view was gorgeous from high up-top. However, that was hardly a thought on their minds as they kept thinking about this transporter. To Ven, the experience was similar to piloting the Pteras, but at least he knew what that actually was.

Soon, though, they calmed down when they knew that nothing was going to happen to them.

As they looked outside, the Zi Tower was quickly approaching them.

* * *

Ragnarok had come back from his few resting hours to inspect how the maintenance on the Konig Wolf was going. The soldiers at the entrance stood as if they were waiting for him and opened the large door. As it rolled up, he got a good view of the wolf zoid. The paint was clearly renewed and the armor was restored. Various metallic and secure bindings had been placed on its legs, however, to ensure that it would cause no problems.

"Looks like everything has gone smooth so far," the commander called out to everyone inside. Each of the engineers turned to look at him and saluted. Many of them were dripping sweat after the hours of hard work they had been doing. Ragnarok searched for one of them with grey hair and spotted him. He was the overseer of all the maintenance work being done in the Backdraft Group. "John, come over here."

The dirtied-up man came running over to him with a clipboard of papers in his hands. On them was the written report of what had been done so far.

"I take it I have good things to hear?"

"You most certainly do," the engineer replied, flipping through the papers. Ragnarok stepped to his side and analyzed each and every one of them. "The hydraulics didn't seem to take any damage at all, so that's good. The paint job has been finished. But the armor required bits and pieces of its new CAS equivalent. Overall, it doesn't look much different than it probably did before. Long-range weapons have been restocked with ammo and the close-range ones have been cleaned off."

Ragnarok was nodding as he took in all that was said. He was happy to know that progress was being made in the right direction.

"But there was something unusual about this zoid regarding its circuitry, especially leading up to its command system."

"Hmmm? And that is…?"

John flipped all the way back to the last page to display a picture of the Konig Wolf's internal structure. He placed a finger on the wiring around the cockpit.

"The voltage in those wires acts very strangely compared to what we've seen in other zoids. I reckon anyone who pilots it should be extra cautious while maneuvering it, since the details of it is something no one has ever looked into before."

"In that case, how do you recommend we go about the field testing?" The engineer allowed the papers to fall back onto one another as he lightly laughed.

"I don't know about that. Fact is this foreign internal wiring could mean the zoid is unstable in some way or another. If we test it, strong parameters should be set in place in the situation that anything were to go wrong."

Ragnarok mumbled something out that couldn't be understood. He reached his hand up to grab the clipboard.

"May I take a look at these papers?" he asked John.

"Most certainly. In fact, it's best if you do. I would say that whoever pilots this zoid should review these as well, and knowing The Count, I'm sure I already know who he's issuing this zoid to," John joked, patting the commander on the back. Ragnarok wasn't the least bit amused.

"I doubt it. I've proven time and time again that a Raynos is what I work best with. And I know that some of the men I've trained are very capable with ground zoids."

The Backdraft leader spent the next twenty or so seconds reading through all the progress that had been made on the Konig Wolf. If it was going to fight under his command, he wanted to know every detail about how it would function in combat. But taking into consideration what John had shared with him, its performance may not be predictable. Especially when you're _not one_.

He abruptly handed the clipboard back to the engineer.

"Anyway, looks like you've done your job for today. Tell everyone in here that I'm assigning them a Break period for the next two hours. After that, I want a field testing reservation for this zoid. I expect that to begin in three hours."

John was shocked by what he heard. For all he knew, the zoid's circuitry could be something huge that they may be overlooking.

"You sure about this? It could be dangerous."

"Maybe." Ragnarok straightened out his symbolic hat. "But as The Count has always told me, and I'm sure you too, that time is of the essence. We can't wait for results. Not while the Commission is on high alert about what we've been doing."

John sure as hell he had heard The Count say that multiple times. And more often than not he was right. He always was. However, in his experience, zoids required time. But he knew that him and his top commander, Ragnarok, were not ones to cross if you were to watch out for yourself. So he picked up the air horn speaker on a nearby table and announced that Break had begun.

Ragnarok walked up to the front feet of the Wolf-type. Staring up at it, he could sense all the complications that may stem from it.

"Are you planning to be the one who field tests this zoid?" John worried. "Because if so, you may want to think twice. It's not just your life on the line but the Backdraft Group's morale as well. You're everything to us."

"As if I haven't figured that out. The Count uses me like I'm mindless. But I know that no one else is going to want to be the one responsible for anything that goes wrong with it. Hell, since this is probably one of our strongest zoids right now, I'm probably going to be expected to get into the cockpit at least once anyway. I may as well get that experience over with."

"Just don't end up regretting it. Besides, the intellect and the sympathy among us isn't exactly renowned."

"I know," the commander muttered, thinking about Zion. If he ever saw him again… "By the way, this is your Break period, too. Take advantage of it."

John tried to think of something to retort with but came up with nothing. The engineer knew it was going to be Ragnarok in there and there was nothing he could do about it. He learned the hard way that as much as you want something to happen, it has a great chance of remaining as nothing more than a wish. All he did before exiting the massive building was give the Backdraft commander a nod. The room was soon clear of everyone besides the blue-haired man and the mysterious Konig Wolf.

_If I'm not 'one'_, Ragnarok reassured, _then I'll have to find out who is._

_Thick chance_, came a snarky telepathic response. The fact that another voice was heard initially shocked him. But he quickly recognized it as that of the dark blue zoid's.

And it could read minds.

"Wait a second," he began, "You can even understand what I'm thinking?"

_Yes. Flawlessly. And I know you're nothing. That you cannot 'be'._

"Oh, I can't? And why is that?"

_You're flawed. Twisted. And sick._

"Sick?"

But no answer came for that. Things were quickly becoming more difficult than he had anticipated.. Whatever was going through the zoid's mind, it had to be rebellious thoughts.

"Hey, answer me, dam-"

The commander stopped as soon as he saw particle shells fire out from its barrels and hit the wall. A few more shots and an opening was blasted open. He had to cover his face so that none of the debris that flew about wouldn't hit his face.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he called out to the wolf. A cracking noise caught his attention and he looked down to see the bindings placed on its legs breaking off and apart.

She would find one.

"Stop!" But the Konig Wolf wouldn't and moved out into the open. Ragnarok reached for his earpiece and called to the other officers. "I need assistance, now! The Konig Wolf has broken out!"

"What?" one of them cried. "But how?"

"The damn thing is sentient it seems. There's no pilot, no nothing. It's uncommon to find a zoid like this. But I need help before this thing goes on a mad rampage and/or escapes!"

"Understood. We'll see what we can do."

The signal disappeared. Once he heard the click, the dark commander took off into a chase for the zoid. He figured that using his Raynos here would be too dangerous. Plus, when it came to detaining zoids that were walking around the base, he was better at handling them using on-foot methods.

_I guess field-testing begins now_, he mentally joked.

* * *

Ven and Aero soon arrived at the large tower on the bottom floor. The transporter took patients there for security purposes. That is, in case an intruder managed to get into a transporter. Thinking about the rights of being able to use one, the teenager thought that the president was starting to trust him now. That idea felt even more backed up when he saw the elevator was temporarily open for use.

"Thank Eve," he sighed. He would never forget about what going up those stairs was like. The elevator took its time to come down, but not as long as one might think given the tower's size. Once the doors did open, though, were they greeted by the sight of three different people. Two of them were men while the third was a woman, and they were all wearing prison attire. One of the men was short and dark-skinned while the other was average height with a stocky build and grey hair. The woman's blue hair and green eyes were what made her stand out among the men. The three of them just stared at the two brothers eerily as they entered, mostly at Ven. He seemed familiar…

The doors closed as Ven pressed the button to reach the top floor. At the same time, the silver-haired pilot was feeling immensely disturbed by the three sets of adult prisoner eyes that were locked-on to him. Who were they? And what were a group of prisoners doing in the Zi Tower?

"Who are you guys?"

They all looked at him a bit longer before any of them responded.

"I'm Lamarck," said the taller one, sounding as if he was suspicious about something. The other two came off with the same tone.

"I'm Lea."

"And I'm Zion."

"Okay…"

The moment was only growing even more awkward.

"And what are you guys doing here?" This time they seemed like they were more comfortable. He couldn't have been the one who defeated them during their failed mission.

"We were brought here to be Q and A'd by officials in this city. We'd rather not say why," Lea informed.

"Does it have something to do with you being arrested?" He heard growls after saying that last word.

"I just said we'd rather not say why." Zion's irritation was starting to get to him.

"It's all because of that stupid…"

"Zion, don't say anything," Lamarck ordered. The veteran watched as the short man eyed him evilly. Zion was tempted but didn't want to get into an argument in front of strangers. If things turned sour, there would be people to report it, and they were already in enough trouble.

"Why are you guys still on here, though?" the teenage pilot queried.

"They're giving us a temporary clean-up job for what we've done," Lea answered. "And I don't like the sound of it."

"Well that's what you get. The people who run this place don't take anyone's crap." Ven folded his arms and leaned back against the elevator's walls. Aero did the same just because he thought it looked 'cool'. "Believe me."

"Yeah… Hey, what do you know?" she demanded. "Aren't you working with them or something?"

"Yup, that's how I know." He didn't want to tell them that he was a prison escapee. That might have been a little too much to tell a bunch of criminals. These ones in particular, though he didn't know. "I've seen and heard what they do."

However, the three of them were getting the idea that Ven _had_ actually been in prison. If that were true, then there was no way he could be the Liger Zero's pilot, despite the brief images they had seen on TVs. He seemed to be a bit much of a daring type to have been allowed to use that zoid.

"I'm pretty sure we've seen the worst of it in these past couple days," Lamarck popped.

"You probably have knowing how impatient these guys are," Ven whistled. "Anyway, how long are your guys' sentences?"

"Life," each of them said. That was enough to scare the two brothers even more. Whoever these people were, they were among the worst of the worst.

"Life? What the…"

The doors opened again on level fifteen. Looking out into the office areas, things did llok to be quite a mess. There were stained floors, papers in random places, and broken computers. The trio of ex-Backdraft pilots exited the elevator without saying anything. They didn't want to ever become friendly towards anyone under the Commission. It was against their self-maintained oaths.

Ven took in their attitude and soon afterwards just disregarded them as typical prisoners. He was glad to think that he was never as bad as them and never would be. Aero thought the same, even though he had never been arrested. Or at least not in the sense that most people think of. The doors closed again.

"I wonder what they did," Aero pondered.

"I'd rather not talk about that either. I have enough deep things to think about as they are."

"But they seem very scawy." Ven rolled his eyes.

"Yes, they do. Everything does," he said sarcastically.

They reached the sixtieth and top floor in a few minutes. Ven was still reminiscing his journey up the steps and was wondering how the hell he managed to pull it off. It must've been willpower, but that didn't keep him from thinking about how crazy it was. And he instantly remembered the sense of relief he had felt as soon as the small hallway displayed in front of him. Again, the entrance to the office remained open. It seemed that convenience was there for him today. At least, he was hoping that would remain the case.

Upon walking in, they saw that Thomas and Malcolm were in there waiting for them, the latter sitting in his chair.

"No Zanzer here today?" Thomas asked. It was unusual for him to be around the president without the blonde in sight. Then again, things would probably lean to his side now that the head guard wasn't there.

"He has other things to attend to," the old man said. "We won't be needing him, anyhow. You three will suffice."

Ven and Thomas found the same two seats they sat in the previous day while Aero had to go and grab a third for himself. Sitting in front of the president, all three of them knew where the tension in their veins was coming from. They knew that while talking to him, things could go anywhere. The teenager in particular understood this better than anyone.

"So let's not waste time and just cut straight to discussing anything we saw that was…interesting." He was clearly hinting at the 'pink thing' Ven had told him about earlier.

"There wasn't really anything else other than the fact there was like an entire regiment of Backdraft zoids," Ven started.

"Actually, you, in particular, have something to say," he pointed out. The pilot then turned to look at his brother. Surely he would have remembered more. "Or perhaps the young one here does."

Aero gathered himself before saying anything. It _was _the president he was talking to.

"It was…strange," he murmured shyly. He had never spoken to someone of such high authority before so his words came out with a resounding stuttering. However, the president wasn't one for vague answers and eyed him in protest.

"And how so?"

"I was…trapped in a cave…and heard voices. I don't remember what they…said…except for me being…'one'. Then I saw a large pink light in the air…above me…and then it was gone."

It was all strange to Malcolm. Both the kid and his older brother were talking mystical nonsense. Nonhuman entities that could talk? Voices that came from nowhere? Something had to be wrong with both of them. Perhaps they had a mental illness in their genes. Yes, that had to be it.

"That is strange indeed," was all he said. But wanting to get things moving further, he brought Thomas into the conversation and pointed his head at him. "And what do you have to say about this?"

"Their zoids seemed to be weaker than I was expecting them to be. All of them were Baratz variations."

"The typical forest scum they use. It sounds like they've been in oversupply of them lately."

"I don't know. But there certainly were a lot of them at Pandora." That, too, was strange.

"Hmmm… Interesting… But let me ask you guys this: what did Ragnarok have to do with any of what happened?" Thomas looked meek and pointed a finger at Ven. He was the one who would answer. The teenager was getting sick of having to explain a bunch of things to the older man.

"All I know is that whatever that thing we saw was, he wanted it. But before he left, he held me at gunpoint after taking me down and was going to force me to tell him everything I knew about the Commision."

"So whatever this thing is, it was enough to force him away from killing you and destroying the Liger Zero? It's clearly a big deal to the Backdraft Group then, and to us as well."

Ven nodded in response. Malcolm put his hands behind his head and kicked back, twisting his chair to look out the window.

"And here I thought that I had everything under control from here on out," he groaned. "Now they just get more surprises under their belt."

"I'm sure we can do something about it, Mr. President," Thomas reassured him. "We do have the largest zoids taskforce in this city, don't we?"

"Yeah, but until we know whatever the Backdraft Group may have found, we can't just jump to any actions. I wouldn't want them to have found some new powerful zoid with us just heading straight into action with it and wasting several valuable men and women."

A moment of silence ensued. Malcolm was right. He knew about the history regarding the Berzerk Fuhrer and the Deathsaurer and those who charged them without knowing exactly what they were. Aero, on the other hand, was feeling a bit more comfortable about the situation.

"I don't think it's that dangerous," the preteen mentioned. Everyone's attention then zoomed in on him. "It didn't seem dangerous to me, just…scawy and weird."

"Really?" Malcolm suckered in, twisting his seat back around. "And what do you know about it exactly?"

"Just that it's… I don't know. It didn't try to do anything to me before going away."

"I think he's got a point," Ven defended. Malcolm was starting to feel Ven's pain in how complicated things were becoming. There was always this, and then there was always that. He figured his own job was enough, but clearly not.

"Eve, you kids. Getting yourselves involved in everything." Aero just scratched the back of his head while shyly smiling.

"We're in this because you sent us out there." He had to admit Ven had a point there.

"Yes, I know. Hell, the next time something strange happens, I get the feeling you're gonna be there to see it as well." Ven quietly laughed. "And it's not a laughing matter. You've been enough of a topic on my mind."

"Well excuuuuuse me, but I wonder how much of that is my fault." Thomas heard everything they were saying and decided he would not let the teenager embarrass him.

"Kid, not right now," he ordered to Ven.

"And I better not be called 'Kid' all the time, you hear me?" The silver-haired pilot was having none of it today. He had already been the target of scrutiny by these people in the past and would not be such again. At least he wouldn't allow himself to be for a while. The guard just grunted in response.

"Thank you, Thomas," Macolm sarcastically thanked. "Anyway, back to what we were talking about, we'll need to come up with something and fast. I may have to issue more spies, one of which happens to be very renowned for his work. Or so among his colleagues he is."

"Hm?" all three of the guests mumbled.

"You guys will get to meet him later. He's also busy with another objective. But anyway, someone like him will probably be our key to playing it safe."

"Have I met him before?" Thomas wondered. Working for the government and not knowing of someone who was supposedly high-profile in some way or another seemed like a strange and suspicious concept to him.

"Perhaps. I wouldn't be shocked if you've crossed paths with him before. As a spy, it's a natural habit to be rather quiet about who you are, so if you don't know him it's nothing to feel weird about."

Still, the guard felt awkward. And Ven was just trying to think of why the president was telling them about spies.

"How come you're telling us about this, though, if it's nothing we can do anything about?"

"There may not be anything you yourselves can do, but the results they come up with will…"

And the old man really hated to say this to the teenager.

"…directly affect what you three may have to do."

The teenage pilot was confused about that. What was really going through the old man's mind?

"So me and my brother here are a part of this, too?" Thomas would jump back in in protest. He did not like where this may lead to.

"Mr. President, please, if I may request, what you're thinking of may not be the best idea. He's still a rookie to this whole military involvement!"

"Thomas, would you please settle down?" The guard did as he was told to and clamped his mouth shut, as hard as it was to do so. "I've had to think this through. Since you seem to be capable of handling _my_ zoid, I'll dub you as its…residential temporary. That means that as long as you still run around this area and you wear your own issued pilot jacket, which will be handed to you later, you'll get to use the Liger Zero. But if you ever decide to stop doing any assigned tasks, I'll have to rid you of your usage privilege."

Ven wasn't concerned about that given how things were going between him and the feline zoid. But he did want to stay on the president's good side.

"Alright, I understand."

Meanwhile, Thomas was sitting there stoned (anime wide blank eyes and jaw drop). For all he knew, he may be working with this new colleague for years. It was a nightmare to even think about it. The constant arguing that would ensue, all of it. And for days.

"And Thomas, be respectful to him. You probably won't be with him on the battlefield that much anyway. He's not even an employee." The blue-haired guard's feelings still remained the same. And after thinking about it himself, Ven was also wary of the idea. How often he saw the security guard was irrelevant. More or less, the fact that he'd probably share objectives with him from time to time was hugely disturbing to him and Aero. And he knew that Liger Zero wouldn't appreciate it either.

"Okay, Sir," Thomas confirmed, switching to the best positive face that he could make in front of the president. "I will be."

"That's good. Now, as for the spy I was talking about, I wonder if I will be able to set up a meeting between you three and him. It would definitely be convenient if he had a better idea of whom and what he is supporting."

"He doesn't trust you enough already?" This struck Ven as suspicious. Why would a spy care so much? Or anyone?

"He's very picky. He says that having a complete understanding of his tasks' background actually helps him out while doing his job. I won't complain since what he's been doing has resulted in the obtaining of valuable information. It was him who found the Liger Zero, afterall."

_Wow_, the three of them thought.

_And I don't know who he is?_ Thomas mentally moaned.

"Yes, it's amazing. He's gotten a high raise because of that. But as for arranging a meeting, I'll have to call him later about that. And in that case, I guess that's it for now."

However, Aero had still had one small thing to ask.

"Ummm…excuse me," the younger brother muttered, "but is there anywhere nearby we can get food?" This question surprised Malcolm. They hadn't eaten?

"You guys didn't stop for lunch?"

"We didn't want to take the risk," answered Thomas. The president was now officially confused. "There was gunfire in the inn we stayed at and people were dashing out and leaving frantically. So we tried to get back here as soon as possible to avoid getting caught in any problems. And because of that incident, I don't think any of us ate breakfast either."

Ven and Aero nodded in agreement.

"And I haven't heard about this yet? Damn, it must be because of the coverage overflow that the past two days have been receiving. Jesus, the way the media can be."

Malcolm kept cursing under his breath until he came to enough to answer the preteen's question.

"Sorry about that. Anyway, it sounds like you two are familiar with Rachel. Her Break period should be starting now, so I'll have her show you around. Meanwhile, Thomas, you head back to your post. I think your shift has already started."

The guard almost wanted to cry when he realized he had work that he had to go back to and would miss out on eating. That, and the relentless jokes he was probably going to be hearing regarding the trouble he had gotten himself into. Boy oh boy, would that be running the whole day.

Ven, Aero, and Thomas slowly got up and were about to leave. However, the blue-haired guard would be the only one to do so right now.

"You two brothers, stay. Rachel is on her way here since I need to talk with her."

And so they did as they were told, watching their distraught colleague leave as he exited through the door.

* * *

The task at hand would prove to be one of the most challenging the dark commander has ever faced. He climbed over and through the hole the Konig Wolf had blasted and turned to his left to see where it had gone. The dark blue zoid was walking fast through a wide open walkway. People were screaming at the top of their lungs as fear lurched through them their minds. Several of them had gone into hiding while others had heard orders from their commanders and ran to their zoids. Whatever they were thinking, they must've already had a plan in mind.

"Stop right there," he yelled to the lingering wolf. He pulled his Desert Eagle out and aimed it at the lightposts nearest to it and in front of it. Each of them were shot at their base and at an angle where they would tilt and collide with the free-roaming zoid. The first few missed their target completely. The others, however, hit her on her side and were enough to irritate the zoid and force her turn to her head.

_Yoouuuu…_, she challenged, _You're brave._

"You think?" he shot back, reloading his pistol. "I worked TOO FUCKING HARD TO JUST LET YOU GO!"

_So you're also hard-headed? If that's the case, then 'out' with you…_

As she turned her body all the way around, Storm Sworders flew overhead and dropped EMP bombs onto her back legs. The Konig Wolf howled in shock as she felt the control of her legs weakening, along with the rest of her body slowly.

"Just like what we did before," he called to the pilots in the aerial zoids through his earpiece, putting his weapon back. He was delighted to know that this would be quick. It seemed like the wolf was barely holding its stance and was about to collapse any second. "We'll have to haul it back in."

But it would turn out that he got too happy too soon.

_You will not have me,_ she informed. The zoid then roared loudly and reared its hind legs up, throwing the mines back and forcing them to hit two small houses. The power in each of them instantly went out.

As Ragnarok stared horrified, she righted herself and aimed her dischargers at him. Once he saw what she was about to do, he blitzed off towards his right and dove behind the next building. Several shots hit the ground where he had been previously standing and created a loud explosion that tore down bits and pieces of the structures nearby. He got back up and continued running down the alleyway to escape. As soon as he found a spot far enough away, he stopped and took cover behind a wall, keeping his gun ready for anything.

"Urgh, shit," the commander cursed. He had almost died back there. He also couldn't believe that the EMP bombs didn't work on her. They had never failed on a zoid before, so that was enough to tell him that this wolf-type was several leagues beyond anything they had ever obtained before. "You guys keep it up. It's bound to short-out sooner or later."

As he stayed there and listened for the sound of its footsteps, he realized that if EMP bombs couldn't do it then the only other way would be to get into its cockpit and disable it from there.

"Oh Eve," he prayed, "what am I getting myself into?" He heard the swooshing sounds of Storm Sworders traveling through the air and the dropping of more bombs, followed by more houses and buildings being hit by the failing electrical explosives. The wasted ammunition was another thing going through his mind.

Having heard enough, he ran to a building he saw in the corner of his eye that had stairs outside of it leading up to its roof. He jogged up them and was able to get a view of particle shots being fired at the Storm Sworders. The Konig Wolf's dischargers sent rifts through the air, sending some of the flying-types off path and lightly bumping into each other.

"Goddammit," the pilots cried, watching as their zoids flew straight towards the mountains and crashed into them. The Storm Sworders soon became wrecks after hitting the rocky surfaces dead-on, bits of them falling down. The same fate became of several others.

Looking at the new site of destruction, Ragnarok pondered how he was gonna make this work. He'd had have to stay on the rooftops, jumping from each one to another, and somehow manage to get the Konig Wolf's hatch to open. There had to be a way to make this happen, just somehow.

Then he recalled the battle from the day before. He managed to get the Liger Zero's cockpit exposed by taking out its back legs and forcing it to flip around. Of course, he had no idea if the hatch only opened because its pilot had made it do so. If that was the case, he didn't want to take the risk of damaging the powerful zoid. Then he thought of another idea.

Reaching for his earpiece, he called for John.

"John, this is Ragnarok, do you copy?" A static and worried voice came through on the opposite end.

"Ragnarok, are you okay? Jesus, what the hell happened in there?"

"It must have something to do with that circuitry you were talking about earlier. Cause this zoid blasted out on its own and is taking out our pilots one by one."

"I can see that. But what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to find a way to disable it. Since EMP bombs aren't working, I'm trying to find a way to get inside its cockpit and shut it down from there."

"Get inside its cockpit, ARE YOU CRAZY! The only way that will happen is if that thing opens it up for you or you somehow manage to hit the button that lifts the hatch."

"And that's why I'm calling you. I need to know exactly where that button is inside of it. I'm pretty sure with a zoid like this it's different."

"But how are you going to do that if you can't even- Oh lord, no." John knew what his commander was thinking. Ragnarok held up his Desert Eagle and blew the dirt off of it. "Don't even try it," he ordered. "I know you have great aim, but this is too risky!"

"There's no other way. So I need the information I'm requesting right now, and I need to know how many bullets it will take to puncture through that armor." The engineer didn't like this one bit.

"Grrrr… Well there's no stopping you, I suppose."

"No, there isn't. So tell me, dammit! Before we lose more pilots!"

"The button is right behind the right lower back corner of the hatch. Twenty bullets is what you will need to get through that covering. The last bullet should hit the button."

"Thanks. That's all I need to know," the commander claimed before shutting the signal off. He wanted to tune him out before he could hear anymore protesting. He then radioed the Storm Sworders' pilots. "All right, you guys, I have an idea. Don't question me, just listen! I'm gonna run to a spot on the nearby rooftops and as soon as I say I'm in position, I want exactly four EMP bombs dropped. Two on its back legs and another two on its dischargers. After they are dropped, clear out. I'll handle the rest."

"We hear you, Commander," each of them confirmed. Once he got the acknowledgement, he looked at where the Konig Wolf was and noticed that it was still in the same area it was in when it fired at him. Thankfully, there was little space between each of the buildings that were between him and his target. Getting off to a running start, he leapt over each of the gaps until he got close enough to the edge of a structure leading down to the walkway. He'd have to get on top of the buildings on the other side if he wanted a clear shot.

Looking around, he saw another small alleyway in front of him where there were stairs that ran up to the top of one of the structures. The one he was on right now also had a ladder that would take him downwards. He slid down it to get back on the ground and sprinted as fast as he could to the stairs, blitzing straight up them and running along a couple buildings to his left before settling down.

"I'm in position," he announced. In only seconds he saw four bombs drop down onto the designated spots of the Konig Wolf. Again, she roared out loud into the air, fighting as hard as she could to shake them off. The Konig Wolf could've sworn that things were gonna be okay until she saw Ragnarok in the corner of its vision.

_You, dammit._

"Exactly," he said. Readying himself with a couple more clips, he aimed at the hatch's corner and proceeded with several potshots. The zoid tried to think about what he was doing until she figured out what he had in mind. Once she thought about it, she struggled even harder. The twentieth bullet arrived and pierced through the cracking, hitting the button. The covering came up and the commander took advantage of the opportunity.

The distance wasn't far and he was able to successfully jump into the wolf's cockpit. He seated himself and reared his gun up. The effects of the EMP bombs were about to wear off so he had to be quick.. He began to repeatedly smash the head of his Desert Eagle into the controls. He saw small indentations develop that eventually grew bigger and bigger. Eventually he was able to puncture through the armor protecting the wires. Once he saw sparks start to rattle, he pulled his gun out and felt the Konig Wolf stop moving. After a few moments, the small monitor he was looking down at read 'command system frozen'.

Before she could topple over, the Backdraft commander leapt out of the disabled zoid. As soon as its left side hit the ground, he thought about how it would take a lot of training before she would obey anyone's commands. But he knew he would make it happen. It would just take more effort than he was used to.

A lot more.

* * *

**Author's Note:** It should be mentioned (and I'm sure many of you have figured this out) that the Konig Wolf is not a standard Konig Wolf. This is for those who have noticed that it is firing particle shots instead of its regular ammunition out of its dischargers.


	13. When a Zoid Calls Part 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters (excluding Aero and the Konig Wolf) and any original zoids (if I make any)

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**When a Zoid Calls… Part 1**

Again, he would be with someone and going to places. At least this time it was someone that Ven knew well and got along with. And over the years, Rachel had become gorgeous in his and just about every other guy's eyes. He was mostly surprised that she wasn't working as a model instead of serving for this grouchy and demanding old man. But after having gotten to know her years ago, he knew that she knew what she was doing.

"I'm surprised they don't know this area that well," the lieutenant said, pleasantly surprised by what she had been told. "Don't worry, I'll show them around."

"I knew you would," Malcolm thanked. "You've got your whole Break period to use up for this if you wish, but I do expect you back right on time."

"I'll be here. Do you want me to bring them back as well?"

"No. Let them have some freedom, especially Ven."

"Alright then." She saluted to the president like all his best soldiers did before turning around to smile at the brothers. Rachel was looking forward to this since she hadn't spent some time with them ever since they were little. "Right this way," she told them as she passed them by. They both followed their ex-nanny out of the office and down the elevator. "So what's been going on with you two lately, besides what I already know?" Ven would be the one to speak.

"Pfffffff, man... High school is almost finished for me, and Aero is just about to enter it."

"Time's really been passing then," she said as she reminisced about the 'old times'. "I still remember when you two were so little! The way you guys always reacted to the littlest things was so cute and funny! But I guess I can't look at you two that way anymore now, can I?" She almost seemed depressed.

"I don't know. Just don't overdo it," Ven said, laughing at Rachel's attitude. It seemed the lieutenant still held on to her soft spots for certain people.

"Totally, being the _Liger Zero's _pilot and all now." The elevator door opened and allowed for them to walk out. They left the Zi Tower and proceeded straight down into the city. "But before all of this, how have things been going with the family?"

"Pretty tight, really. My parents have been caught up in financial troubles lately and are having a hard time paying their rent. I suppose having me and Aero out of the house makes some of their spending easier, though."

And speaking of Aero being away, that reminded him that their parents must've been worried sick about where he was.

"By the way, can Aero actually return home? We're not too far from there." The teenager was hoping for a 'yes' so that he wouldn't have to risk having his brother get in his way. And as far as he could tell, he had already risked losing him twice. But he didn't exactly hear what he liked.

"It's probably not recommended. It seems like the president is still interested in whatever he may have experienced. And I do remember your parents being very picky and harsh, so you may not want to bring them into this."

"Oh… Yeah, I forgot about that."

As they mentioned his parents, Aero daydreamed about them. What trouble would he be in if he went back home right now? The very thought of it scared him and made him think that perhaps _staying _away was best.

"But really, Ven? Did you have to get dragged into this?"

"No," he replied bluntly, "I just did."

"Come on, what's the reality of it all?"

_Girls_, he pondered, _they just gotta know their way around us guys._

"Didn't I say earlier that I was just curious?" They now stood in the middle of the road where the massive crowd had been earlier. "I wanted to know what the president was up to since the news before wasn't sounding all that great."

"That's not exactly like you."

"Meh, I was small the last time you saw me. I'm big now, and big kids do big things."

As they kept talking, Rachel guided the brothers to the opposite side of the large tower where she knew there were several different restaurants. This was where she typically stopped to get her own food.

"You mean like putting yourself in situations where you could've been killed?"

Ven stopped for a second as he watched the lieutenant and his brother go slightly ahead of him. Aero noticed what he did and stopped as well, just a few steps later.

"You're starting to sound a lot like the rest of these people. And besides, it's not like I knew I'd end up fighting anyone."

"Oh please, spare me," she joked. "Get to know Thomas and Zanzer a bit better and you'll realize that _you're_ the one starting to sound like them." Ven took that to heart and personally. "And they fight a lot."

"Excuse me?" He picked up his pace again. "Are you calling me selfish and retarded?"

"If you personally decided to come out here on your own, yeah."

_Goddammit._

"You know, you've changed, too."

"And how so?" the lieutenant queried.

"I just remember you and us two used to get along so well. Now it seems like we're strangers." Rachel laughed, turning to face him.

"It's probably all just a part of that thing called being a 'big kid'. You'll get used to it."

"Yeah. Right. I think I got used to it after having to work with that blue-haired knee jerk."

"It doesn't sound like you have if you're still thinking about him."

"Whatever."

As they kept moving along, all the restaurants became completely visible. At the first sight of the massive food center, Ven and Aero were surprised that something like this had remained hidden from them. But coming to think about it, they both had led sheltered lives to some extent.

"Pretty much, you guys can just make yourselves at home here. Since Malcolm owns the rights to this whole area, the chefs and waitresses already know your name. They'll probably make the food free for you guys."

"That's awesome," the brothers exclaimed at the same time. Their stomachs both audibly groaned in protest of being empty for so long. She giggled as their facial expressions reminded her of their old childhood innocence that was seemingly from a time that never existed.

"I guess I'll join you guys while I'm at it. It is my own free time right now, afterall."

* * *

The day had been a dark one for the Backdraft Group. Many of the pilots whom were controlling the Storm Sworders had died due to the breakout incident regarding the Konig Wolf. Many of the buildings would have to be repaired as well since the power outages remained in them. Their electrical sources needed to be rewired if they were ever to be of use again. The millions of dollars these processes would cost would be of a deep loss to the anti-Commission organization, especially considering most of its members were in low profit. To say the least, The Count was not pleased.

For at least the next few hours he would be hearing about families and their friends and how much their lives had just suffered. In their eyes, why hadn't they been able to keep the new zoid detained? Who was piloting it? Why did it break out? There would be no end to it.

The wolf was dragged into the zoids lab where it would undergo further analysis. Besides the Liger Zero, never before had they faced a zoid that had such ferocity, and it shocked them. Ragnarok himself had come along with it since he and it now held a grudge with each other. And if there was anyone who could deal with any problems it could cause, it was him.

He reunited himself with The Count at the entrance to further inform him of what had happened.

"You certainly have some explaining to, Commander Ragnarok," the bald man demanded.

"I told you it was sentient, my lord. It broke out of its own free will and tried to escape."

"Interestingly enough. But if you understood its psyche, why were extra measures not taken to ensure it would not cause any damage?"

"Again, I didn't know of its strength."

The response didn't please The Count. In his ideology, this could almost be deemed as another failure on the commander's part. But no matter, he had to concentrate on whatever this zoid truly was. He had picked up on its strange signal earlier in the day and was determined to find out more about it.

Moving along through the lab, the bald man and his leading officer watched as all the scientists conducted experiments on different zoids and weapons. This was where all the field research was taken in and debriefed to the pilots, engineers, and the commanders. All three of these groups of people needed to know the weaknesses and strengths of each and every zoid they had so that they could make effective use of them in combat. A meeting could be heard taking place in a separate room detailing upgrades that were being made to the Storm Sworder. It was irritating to Ragnarok that the Raynos brand was seemingly being ignored as far as development was concerned. He figured that everyone in their base must've thought that his talent with it made it good enough. But sooner or later, it would eventually no longer suffice.

The two men entered another room that was much larger in size compared to the others before it. It was divided in two by a large rectangular glass wall. On their side were multiple computers and seats, taken up by scientists, which were used for observing statistical data while the other was just about empty, save for the Konig Wolf that was being brought in. The back entrance to the other side closed, keeping the dark blue zoid locked in a neon-shaded metallic room. This was where scanners would run through it and report to the computers any information that could be found.

"That zoid sure is a beauty," one male scientist commented.

"It sure is," agreed the woman next to him. "Too bad she does what she does."

The wolf stood rightfully on its legs as a large section of the floor below it rose up. The scanning machines hung along the roof and emanated a dark red wall of light under them. They each crossed each other, one starting at the zoid's head while the other at its tail. They continually passed each other by, sending an information overload to the computer monitors. And some of it came off as completely foreign to the observers.

"This is strange," said the first scientist. "I've never seen electromagnetic pulses like these before."

"Hm?" The Count muttered. The woman jumped back in.

"The information we're receiving from the zoid's front end is comparable to the information we would normally find in a human brain."

To Ragnarok, this confirmed what he already knew. The Konig Wolf was alive, and that had something to do with its odd wiring configurations. The Backdraft ruler beside him, however, was somewhat puzzled. The fact that there was a non-Ultimate X zoid that could make its own decisions was surely a shocking new discovery.

"So then that must be the reason as to why it broke free. It felt like it was a 'captive'," the bald man concluded.

"We're not quite sure. It also seems that this same strange electromagnetism can flow throughout the entire body as well. This means that it has enhanced weaponry and mobility statistics compared to what you may find in what would be a normal Konig Wolf."

"And here's what's even weirder," said a second man at another monitor. "Analyzing these pulses…it would appear that at certain intervals, some of them are capable of traveling outside of the zoid. And if they do work the way we think they do, the human senses will track them and interpret them as…speech."

This was another revelation to The Count, one that he had serious doubts about. There was absolutely no way that a machine could communicate with a human. It was against scientific and logged history documentation. If there was any zoid that he could imagine being capable of such, it was the Liger Zero. The commander just remained silent.

"So you're trying to convince me that we can effectively communicate with this zoid through our own words?"

"Supposedly."

"That's utter bullshit. It must be."

"Our data here says otherwise, Sir."

Meanwhile, Ragnarok thought about how The Count was denying himself. Yesterday was all that he needed to know that what these scientists were saying was indeed true. Thinking about that, he couldn't help but wonder why it was only him that could hear the machine? Was it capable of choosing who it wants to speak to?

"But that's improbable."

"My lord," Ragnarok intruded, "do not forget that we _did_ find this zoid in an unusual spot, and that your sensors were able to detect it as an unidentifiable object. Any zoid would have come up as being listed as its respective type, so there must be other strange qualities about it." The Count looked at the blue-haired officer with a distorted expression.

"Yes, that is true. However, we cannot uphold ourselves to believe that something that has not been recorded in history can be deemed as possible."

"There's a first for everything, right?"

"Tsk." The bald man looked back at the monitors. "Only when it's logical."

"Well after my experience with this thing, it sure seems pretty logical."

"Your experience? Again, you must still be tired." This was driving the Backdraft commander mentally crazy.

_Jesus, he undermines me_, Ragnarok vented in his mind.

"Well, I know what I heard. And I know that, based on what it _did say_, it was unhappy being around us."

Under further inspection, they could all see the wolf's eyes come to life as they lighted up. Everybody gasped, amazed by how the zoid could come back online so quickly. Inside its cockpit, the damage Ragnarok had done slowly rejuvenated, allowing it to effectively regain control over its body.

_Where are you…is one?_ the Konig Wolf cried. This time, it allowed everyone watching it to hear its words. The Count was now officially shocked. He knew the voice could have come from nowhere else since it sounded almost…ethereal.

"Now you see what I mean?" declared the Backdraft commander. At least he was finally able to prove something to him.

"This can't be real," The Count muttered. Seeing as how they had to take action quick, he immediately sent out an order to the scientists, "Short it out, quickly! Before it can break loose!"

"We're on it," all of them complied. In a moment's time, right when the dark blue zoid was starting to move one of its legs, massive amounts of voltage shot into the room and hit it dead-on. The wolf roared in agony and kept on doing so until its eyes dimmed once again. The same foot came back down to the ground with weight, creating a small vibration throughout the building. Everybody sighed a breath of relief.

"This is definitely strange," the Backdraft lord admitted. "'One'?"

"It's mentioned that same word to me as well," said Ragnarok. "Whatever it's referring to, it must be the solution to this mess."

"If that's the case…" The Count started, looking at each of the men and women in the room, "…keep analyzing the spot where you picked up this data. There must be something we can find."

Both scanners returned to their work but moved in to stay locked-on to the head. Massive amounts of even more new information poored in.

And a lot of it displayed as being in Ancient Zoidian text.

"Oh, please no," groaned the commander. "We don't have any translators in here for this, do we?"

"Not to worry," said the male scientist. "These computers are equipped with language translation technology. We'll interpret it shortly."

Staring at the monitors, they each had the text highlighted in a bright green color before it reappeared normally as words they could all read.

"It reads…" the scientist began, "'One…with streaked hair and timeless hope. His relations know no bounds, specifically tied to myth and legend. I shall find him. The one whose future is bright and whose opposing darkness is great. He needs me, more than anything else, and I need him.'" Ragnarok thought about the information for a second.

"Streaked hair and tied to myth and legend? It's clearly a person… But what does the 'myth and legend' part mean?"

"We can only assume that it's referring to someone related to the Liger Zero," suggested The Count. "Somebody who is helpless, too, so it can't be Liger Zero's pilot."

"But perhaps he has someone close to him… 'One'?"

"That's probably the case," the bald man declared. "Actually, I have a plan in mind." He then looked around at everyone in the room and ordered them to keep on analyzing any new information that popped up.

"And that would be?" He already knew that it was going to involve him. This would be something that was top-priority for the Backdraft Group, and he was always told to oversee things like these.

"We'll have to get into the Commission's quarters. Any new information we receive should describe what our target individual looks like. And I'm sure you know how we'll do this."

Of course the commander did: unsanctioned zoid battles.

* * *

After Ven, Aero, and Rachel had finished eating, Rachel received a call from Malcolm telling her to bring them to the middle floors of the Zi Tower, where they would be issued their own attire to wear. Looking at the silver-haired teenager, she couldn't help but laugh at how he was still wearing one of Zanzer's uniforms. It had to have been really filthy at this point. As far as she could tell, not even the blonde himself would probably want it anymore.

Once they did get new clothes, they couldn't believe how different they actually looked. Zanzer's clothes came back to him as the two brothers marveled at their specially-designed shirts and pants. They each got two different sets of clothes of their own: one for casual dressing and another for zoid-piloting. It was what they would be required to wear on while traveling to and from different Commission territories.

Ven's 'everyday' wear consisted of a green vest in front of a white shirt with blazer suit pants. If you're with the government, you're always expected to look professional, even out in the open. His battle clothing was a dark pocket jacket with black poofy pants. He liked it because it made him look much more fiercesome and serious. Aero was given similar clothing but much smaller. The preteen's clothes were also just made up of cyan blue shades, the shirts being lighter and the pants being darker. The only reason he was given a piloting uniform was because of his association with Ven and the fact that he had recorded time usage with a zoid in the past. Overall, they were both very content with their new looks.

The next couple days were very light compared to what they had been used to. There were no battles, no missions, no nothing. It was all just time spent getting to know people and getting accustomed with the city's areas that neither of them had ever really gotten a chance to see. There was also the funny shock that Liger Zero eflt when he saw his pilot the new clothing. Though he was just a machine, even he had to admit the two different pairs looked much better.

"_You put on a new look?" _queried the feline.

"Yup. They're branding me and Aero as part of the Commission, so we get new clothes. Whattaya think?"

"_They're a lot better than whatever that was you were wearing before. That looked awkward."_

"That was an air pilot uniform that I stole before I met you at that desert base. It belonged to the head of Zi's security, apparently."

"_He's pretty dumb for leaving it out for anyone to grab."_

"A lot of the people nowadays are just all-talk."

"_Kinda seems like that,"_ Zero joked, but Ven couldn't laugh after his experience with them. _"Where's your brother, anyhow? He's usually with you."_

"They're issuing him a zoid right now. Then he's gotta test his chosen zoid to see if he's compatible with it or not."

"_They certified that kid as a pilot?"_

"Well he's with me, and he does have a fair amount of time logged into piloting one. It should turn out fine."

"_Is he a novice, though? Because if he is, that could be problematic,"_ worried Liger.

"Oh, don't worry," Ven said, waving his hand in front of his face. "They'll train him to get him up to par."

"_Hopefully that won't take too long. If he's gonna be out there with us, watching over somebody will be hard."_ The teenager couldn't help but smile.

"You know what I've noticed? Is that you worry too much. I mean, so do I sometimes, but we don't need to be babysitted."

"_Remember, I'm the one who's old as hell. I know what can happen."_

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it," Ven stated.

Meanwhile, the rest of that day went by uneventfully. He kept hearing the president tell him that he was trying to set up an appointment between them and the spy he had told him about earlier. Every time one was set up, it always got delayed before being cancelled. This happened a lot. Ven figured that whoever this guy really was, he must've had a really tight schedule. Nonetheless, he was interested in getting to see who he was.

While this was happening, he kept on thinking about how while Aero was getting practice time with whatever zoid he had picked, he himself was not. So he asked Rachel and Malcolm what would be the best training for him. The next day, the teenage pilot walked up to the old man's desk to see if he could get any recommendations.

"I think there is a good way for you to enhance your skills," he told Ven. "We, as the Zoids Battle Commission, oversee all zoid battles and uphold the rules. That's just generally speaking, however. I know of some third parties that do their own things. They're under our constant inspection, but they do hold tournaments with some very high-caliber pilots and zoids. Some of them sound like they're even willing to attempt to take on the Liger Zero."

"That's cool. Just where can I find them or register for a tournament?"

"Given who you are to me, no paperwork would be involved. Your image seems to have become pretty well-known. I just need to book an entry through my computer and you should be all set."

"Alright then. Is there anything else I need to know about beforehand?"

"Yes," Malcolm responded sharply, twiddling a pen. "Don't underestimate anyone you face. As in, most of these pilots you'll participate against are extremely experienced. But after the last mission I sent you out on, you seem like you're very capable of matching up against them. I just demand that nothing irreparable be done to the Liger Zero." Again, Ven smirked.

"You also worry too much," he sneered.

"Watch iiiiit… Don't forget who you somewhat still are to me."

"Yes, Sir."

And once more, time continued to fly by. As the constant days of news and Backdraft bickering passed, Ven finally got the confirmation of him and his zoid's entry into a competitive tournament. It was called 'Elimination', where zoids would only face each other one-on-one. It was a single elimination competition, which to Ven added to its spice. The thrill, the excitement, whatever. A massive amount of prize money would go to the winner, and he was confident that he would take it all.

_Everything I could do with that cash… Yeah…_

That same thought kept traveling through his mind up until he approached Liger Zero.

"Buddy, we got a tournament on our hands. Or in your case, your paws."

"_Finally, some action! I've had enough of a break."_

The eager pilot got inside the cockpit and told Liger Zero the coordinates. A map displayed on the interior of the hatch, showing where he was and where he and Liger Zero needed to be.

"The battleground is ninety-five miles from here. At least that's relatively close."

The massive door slowly lifted up to reveal the blinding sunlight of the bright day outside. There was an adventure to be had and money to be earned.

"Let's go!"

Liger Zero roared in acknowledgement and walked out of his huge parking spot. Still following the map, Ven directed the feline through a path that made it easy to leave Remma. It was a series of streets reserved for government use only. Once all the skyscrapers were behind them, Zero broke off into a fast sprint.

"_Is your brother participating in this as well?"_

"Yup, but he's in a lower division. We may or may not encounter him there."

"_Do you know what zoid he chose?"_

"He told me he's piloting an Arosaurer. I'd say that's a good choice." However, Zero was alien to that zoid.

"_Arosaurer… I don't think I've encountered one of those before."_

"It's a new zoid that's only been in use for a few years now. It's not that strong, but neither is Aero."

"_That's really supportive of you."_

"Meh, just my honest thoughts. Besides, I'm not sure if I ever told you this, but he is actually quite a wizkid when it comes to zoid parts, so he is good at something."

"_Still, he's your brother,"_ Zero joked, _"No need to be like that!"_

"Hah."

The next half hour went by swiftly. On the map, they were coming extremely close to the red dot, where they were supposed to be. Looking beyond it, Ven spotted a massive wide open canyon that they were about to enter. Spread out inside of it were numerous large lumps and spiked up indentations that could be used for sneaking around or for cover. But he could not see his opponent anywhere.

"Are we the only ones here?"

"_They're not just gonna make themselves visible if this is the terrain. Boy, you got a lot to learn."_

"Yeah, but there's not even a judge."

And right then and there, the teenager looked up and saw something rocketing down from the sky. The object streaming downwards was a large white rectangular box shape with circular curves protruding from the middle sections of its longest sides. It crashed straight into the ground, forming a large crater around itself. Dust went flying about and some of it sprayed against Liger's face.

"_The judge capsule looks different from how I remember it. And damn, dust!"_

Once the scenery calmed down, one side of the capsule loosened and rose upward before stopping at a ninety degree angle. As it did this, a humanoid robotic figure stood upright inside of it. Its single base was attached to the capsule, sharing the same white armor that shined under the bright sun as it raised its cylindrical head. The front side of its face was black and acted as a monitor for displaying the battle's mode. The judge uncrossed its arms and brought them parallel to its torso. The inner workings of the capsule were also much more complicated as several mechanisms were moving about, very similar to the room back at Remma that Liger Zero now used as a parking spot. A light blue glow then emanated from the capsule's base, allowing the judge to effectively hover.

"The area within a thirty mile radius is a designated zoid battle field," declared the judge. "This zone is now restricted. Only competitors and personnel have authorized entry. Danger, all other must leave the area at once! Area scanned."

The robot then twisted its head and capsule from right to left and back.

"Battlefield, set up. The Liger Zero versus the Gojulas. Battle mode zero-nine-seven-three."

Ven tensed the black and white zoid, lowering it to keep it ready for any surprises. He himself was ready for anything. The judge raised its two arms like wings before swiftly crossing them.

"Ready… FIGHT!"

"A Gojulas, eh?" the teenager complained. "Great, we're screwed if it gets a view advantage."

"_Just find it and get within close range of it. We should be good then."_

He quietly maneuvered the feline through battlefield, searching for where his opponent may be hiding. He was surprised that given the Gojulas's height, it wasn't easy to spot. However, he kept Liger Zero moving through the strangely-designed battlefield. It was almost like playing a game of 'Hide-And-Go-Seek'. Wherever it was, it couldn't have been very far.

"What the hell, I'm starting to wonder if there's even another zoid here."

After the next couple minutes of searching passed by, Ven could hear rocks crumbling down from the canyon's sides. The teenage pilot moved his eyes about to find them and looked at the top of the cliff from where they had come from. There, he could see in faint detail a tyrannosaurus-shaped figure.

And it was staring straight at him.

"_Move," _Zero cried. Ven regained his thoughts and blitzed his zoid off to the side, just barely missing the shots from its barreled beam cannons.

"It's all the way up there?"

"_We're just gonna have to bring it down! Aaaarrrggghhh!"_

They kept on dodging a massive series of blasts as the terrain around them was knocked down mercilessly. All the cover that Liger Zero attempted to use to disappear from the Gojulas's sight was destroyed. To Ven pilot, it seemed as if this could possibly be a long delayed defeat if the dinosaur-type didn't run out of ammo soon. After consecutive shot after consecutive shot, he knew that he wouldn't be able to keep up all the running and sidestepping/sidejumping that he was doing for long until the whole area around him was decimated.

But the feline came up with an idea. It was a pretty crazy idea to say the least, but he had experience performing similar stunts.

"_Actually, I think I know what to do, but it's pretty risky."_

"Well this isn't gonna keep up," stated Ven. He could still hear explosions coming from all around him. "I'm up for anything at this point."

"_Alright then, here's what I want you to do: run up the cliffside opposite to the Gojulas at an angle so that you can see it at the top of your vision. Then after a couple seconds, jump. When your aim is dead-on, fire my shock cannons at the edge it's standing on." _The teenager was taken aback by this.

"Please don't tell me you just came up with that on the fly. 'Cause if you did, your whole combat philosophy is demented."

"_Hey, I've done crazy things before and they were all necessary. In the end, they all led me to victory."_

"I guess I can't be too surprised."

Following the zoid's words, the young pilot circled around the battlefield before making a long sideways jump to position itself. Looking at where the opposing tyranosaurus was, Ven knew this was a good spot to start from. At this point, the Gojulas's pilot got fed up with the lack of damage his opponent was receiving and started using all of his other weapons.

Ven forced Zero into as fast a sprint as possible and proceeded to diagonally move straight up the canyon's cliffside. The long-range fire from the large zoid on the cliff was effortlessly tearing away at the trail behind them. Seeing that his zoid couldn't keep up the upwards run for forever, the teenager controlled Zero's legs to make them push off and into the air. In the midst of all this, his shock cannons were rising up, and he had to take advantage of this quick opportunity.

"_Now!"_

The feline's pilot pushed the buttons as soon as his aim was right on his target and eight shells managed to pour out in time. The rest just peeled away at what was below the edge. Not predicting that the shells would come, the tyrannosaurus roared once the surface below it was cracked and descended towards the ground. Meanwhile, Ven was doing what he could to shift Zero's legs around in midair and barely managed to have the zoid land on all fours.

"_That's the part I was afraid you might mess up on,"_ the impressed zoid pointed out.

"You should know by now that I'm no beginner." The silver-haired pilot grinned as he knew victory was at-hand. It then struck him that it may not be so easy, though, since his opponent didn't stop firing while the Gojulas was on its way down. He pulled the triggers above his knees before holding the main controls tightly. All of Zero's vents and claws glowed their iconic golden colors as he traveled forward at great speed. Every shot from the massive zoid missed as Liger Zero was swerving in between each and every one of them with seamless pride.

In just about no time, their opponent hit a flat part of the ground face-first. The pilot saw the attack that was coming and struggled to bring his zoid back to its feet. However, such would not occur.

"This is it," declared Ven victoriously. "Strike Laser…"

Liger Zero leapt straight into the air and was targeting the two barreled cannons on its back. If they were taken out, that would surely cause enough of an explosion to freeze the dinosaur's command system.

"…CLAW!"

And then the golden claws connected with the long cannons, effectively knocking them off and later creating the predicted explosion that knocked the opponent's zoid out. It stayed down for good as Liger returned to his feet.

"YEAH," Ven exclaimed, overjoyed. "That wasn't as hard as the president was making this out to be, though."

" _Well you have to admit that he was pretty smart for knowing how to use the terrain to his advantage. He clearly did research beforehand, while it doesn't seem like you did."_

"Don't get on my case now…" An argument was the last thing the teen wanted. The judge sounded the alarm to note who the battle's victor was. He spread his arms out again and held up his right blue hand.

"THE BATTLE IS OVER! THE BATTLE IS OVER! The winner is…the LIGER ZERO," the robot called out. And this just marked the beginning of a series of victories for the duo.

They later went on to become victorious in the later rounds of the tournament and won the huge load of prize money. Aero himself also did fairly well in his new Arosaurer. He didn't manage to place first in his division, but he came close after losing in the semifinal round. As a result, he got a smaller amount of cash as well.

Things kept on going smoothly for the two brothers and their zoids as they participated in more tournaments to hone their skills. There were still tons of pilots interested in fighting against the Liger Zero to see if they could 'beat the best', as it was put. Aero was also put to the challenge numerous times since several younger pilots wanted to battle him as well. His at-first poor record quickly improved and he was soon able to hold his own against Class C pilots. Malcolm was keeping track how well the kid was doing and saw a lot of potential usefulness in the once big-time troublemaker.

In another few days, Ven and Aero received an offer to participate in a two-on-two battle, one Class S pilot and one Class C pilot. The eager brothers were quick to take up the offer and asked the president if it would be okay. Two-on-two battles were the rarest of kinds and didn't have a lot of proven documentation that described how well or badly-run they were. However, since Liger Zero was involved in it, he figured things would more than likely turn out okay in the end.

"Make sure to report to me if anything suspicious happens in the middle of the battle."

"Will do," complied Ven. Both he and his younger brother had recently been trained to start saluting the president and did so right before they left his office. They were quick to leave as it sounded like they had an interesting battle ahead of them.

And boy, did they ever. As they were about to review who their opponents were, they noticed that the images of the zoids that were sent to them seemed to be extremely pixilated. And they didn't notice it, but one of the images looked like a _black aerial zoid._ This was the one with a supposed Class S pilot.


	14. When a Zoid Calls Part 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters (excluding Aero and the Konig Wolf) and any original zoids (if I make any)

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**Author's Note:** Replies to anonymous reviews will be posted on my profile page (if an e-mail address is not attached).

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**The Backdraft Arc**

**When a Zoid Calls Part 2**

Preparation had taken a long time, especially since the upcoming day featured something of which served as the cause of numerous suspicions. Just like Malcolm had informed them, Ven and Aero were doing what they could to stay on their toes. Both of them were performing additional research on their laptop in Liger Zero's own room. In this new day and age, laptops were small flat circular objects, capable of floating, that projected holograms upwards. If the user wished to move icons or click on things, he or she would have to either grab them or 'touch' them.

"It's extremely hard to make out," Ven commented as he continued to look at the zoid images sent to them. "The one with the Class S pilot is black and looks like a flying-type. I don't really hear too much about those."

"Let me see." Aero jumped out of his seat to come look at what his brother had been staring at for the longest time. He himself never really yet got the chance to see what they may be up against. "I think I can make this clearer. Just hold on." He made Ven move out of the chair so that he could make his older brother watch him work his 'magic'.

_He's slowly growing more confident. That's at least a sign of good things to come._

Aero had to tap into the more sensitive functions of the computer by changing around its programming functions and settings. It was amazing to watch the kid work so fluently in something that was extremely difficult for even the most experienced computer experts. His hands and arms were able to move about swiftly and get the job done. However, when all was said and complete, the two of them were anything but impressed.

"It's not looking any better," the Ven mentioned. "Something is clearly being planned."

"I don't know what I can do to make this any better, Big Brother."

"Just leave it. We've been at this for long enough. There's no more information we'll be able to get out of this tonight."

The day was becoming very late with no light shining outside at all. Due to this, the teenager walked over to his zoid to talk with it one last time before getting some much needed rest. Both him and the preteen were quickly growing tired.

"We're going to have to stay as sharp as possible tomorrow. There's no telling what we could really be up against."

"_Did you tell your president about the problems you're having?"_

"He already knows. We sent him word a while ago. He said that he will have Gunsipers set up on the farthest outskirts if things play out suspiciously wrong."

"_Sounds to me like we're guaranteed a win,"_ the zoid reassured.

"I sure hope so, Buddy," Ven groaned, still not happy with the results. He wanted to participate in something that would be legitimate, not unfair. "I sure hope so…"

* * *

The next day arrived in what only felt like a few hours. The wonder, the anxiety, the suspicion, it all flowed through the two brothers's minds. Afterall, this still was one of the first more serious zoid battles Aero would be a part of. The winner of this fight was promised one-eighth of the loser's prize money, so it also seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up. But there was still that strange air of whatever they may be getting themselves into.

The Liger Zero and the Arosaurer arrived at the coordinates where the battle would take place: a large, wide open fertile plains expanse with high grey mountains that had snowy tops serving as the perimeter. The peaks of these mountains were where the Gunsipers laid in snow white camouflages in case anything went wrong. Meanwhile, the Ven's and Aero's zoids stayed towards the center of the battle zone and waited for the opposing team and the judge to show up.

"Why are they taking so long?" whined Aero.

"We may be a little on the early side. Besides, those capsules take some time to hit the ground."

"I still hate waiting."

* * *

While the brothers had kept themselves in the same spot, Ragnarok was flying high above in the sky, piloting his signature black Raynos.

"This almost seems too easy," he beamed in his cockpit. "Hacking in to obtain my old zoid battle profile was probably harder. The fools are just falling completely into our trap."

And from there, he took off into the farthest distance to keep himself from being seen. There was an element of surprise to be had…

* * *

The next few minutes felt like forever. As strange as things were looking, the two young pilots and the Liger Zero couldn't help but become eager. They liked a good challenge, and facing against another Class S pilot was more than enough to ensure that. Sure, the other opponents Ven faced were Class S as well, but this one had an incredible win-loss record. He was currently one-hundred-and-one to five, which is unheard of in the world of zoid-battling

Then they saw it: the judge capsule rocketing down from the skies. The sight of its meteor-like glow was all they needed to get the impulse to be ready. As soon as it hit the ground, another zoid began to become visible, trotting towards them. It slowed to a stop once it shared the same distance away from the judge as the Arosaurer and the Liger Zero.

"What is that?" Aero pondered. Its wolf-like figure was cleanly upright, allowing the dark blue armor it wore to shine under the sunlight. The Konig Wolf was ready for action. No…_Revenge_…or so it thought.

"Looks like today's opponent. It must be the Class C pilot, since the Class S pilot is apparently in an aerial zoid."

The wolf still appeared intimidating to Aero, more so than anything else he had faced before it. Just by staring at it, the preteen pilot could tell that there was something new and distinct about it. Liger Zero was able to sense the same thing.

"_We may wanna be extra careful, Ven,"_ the zoid pushed into his pilot's mind.

"I know. Whoever our other opponent is, he or she hasn't shown themselves yet."

"_That's not what I mean. I'm talking about what's in front of us. The aura it's giving off is very similar to what I sensed from that large pink ball not too long ago."_

"Really?" To Ven, that just made this battle even more interesting. "If so, that's why we've got aid hidden up there in the mountains."

"_I still wouldn't shrug it off."_

"You and I have fought off entire squads, so don't panic."

"_I'm sure I've heard that before…"_

The judge scanned the area, announcing for any and all noncombatants nearby to leave the battlefield. It then looked at the one zoid and checked to see if the supposed other one was anywhere to be seen. Wherever it was, it never showed up.

"ATTENTION! Present Konig Wolf pilot, where is your teammate?" the robot pressured from the opposing zoid. The absence of a zoid and its pilot scheduled for a battle could either result in a forfeit, or, if it is a team battle and its teammate is there, the other pilot could ask to face its opponents alone. Another mechanized voice would reply from inside the Konig Wolf's cockpit.

"He is nonpresent for today. His zoid was damaged by the Backdraft Group."

"Do you yourself wish to go through this battle or to forfeit?"

"I will go through."

"Request confirmed. Battle mode zero-nine-eight-four. Ready… FIGHT!"

Liger Zero and the Arosaurer stared down the Konig Wolf in dark anticipation. The feeling the dark blue zoid was giving off only complicated things, and made Aero just want to get the battle over with.

"Alright, Aero," Ven called, "this is the plan: you will- WAIT!"

Before the teenager could finish sharing his strategy, he saw the dinosaur charge forward at as high a speed as it could. Dark thoughts kept flowing through Aero's mind. They were almost…enticing.

The Arosaurer reached its electron claws forward in an attempt to grab the wolf's face. All seemed to be going well until the Backdraft zoid ducked its head. At that point, the vicious robot pilot hammered the controls, dishing out a strong headbutt to the preteen's zoid and sending the dinosaur tumbling backwards into a heap in front of the feline.

"What were you thinking?"

Aero shook his head to reply. Something had infiltrated his mind and made him momentarily crazy.

"I…don't know," he moped. "Something strange got into my head."

"More of that crap, huh? You're gonna have to put it aside for now."

"I'll try."

But as soon as his zoid got back up, their opponent blitzed straight towards them. Both of them were caught off guard as its electron bite fangs aimed for Zero's neck. The feline noticed the oncoming attack only a few seconds before impact and leapt away. As soon as it missed, the Konig Wolf shot bullets from its cheek flares, effectively denting the white armor.

Aero saw this 'free' opportunity to strike and lashed out once again. To his surprise, the opposing zoid's pilot was still ready for him and instantly turned to pelt away at the Arosaurer.

"Argh… Aero," Ven cried. He squared the Shock Cannons up with his target and fired multiple times in the hopes of saving his brother's zoid. Again, the wolf was prepared, jumping forward onto the blue dinosaur to avoid the shells. Here it attempted to tear away at the vulnerable zoid in a brutal brawl, with each of their claws and fangs proceeding to try to destroy each other. "You doing alright over there, Aero?"

"Barely," came a strained response. "This thing is strong, whatever it is."

Looking at the situation, Ven was trying to figure out what he could do. If he made Zero jump in with them, he would risk freezing his brother's zoid's command system. However, there was nothing he could do just by standing around and watching.

"_Yoohoo! Zi to Ven, are we just gonna stand by or what?"_ Liger Zero demanded. He was not going to lose another comrade just because he did nothing.

"Well what can we do?"

Luckily, the preteen was able to fight the Konig Wolf off of him. The dark blue zoid jumped off as a swipe that would've been fatal otherwise missed its head. It then bounded off into the distance, knowing full-well that the Liger Zero would be on its tail. As such, the liger chased it down.

"Get back here!"

Ven launched more shells out and watched as those missed as well due to horrible aim. Any that could've hit didn't due to the wolf side-bounding left and right. The chase kept on going until the feline managed to catch up, running along its left side. At this point, its own vents and claws glowed their iconic golden shade as the teenager prepared himself for a possible violent tangle.

The Konig Wolf's pilots hit the brakes hard when it saw its opponent's plan and watched the black and white zoid take off right by it. The teenager tried to make his zoid skid to a halt and turn around, but by the time Zero did, he was staring down the dark blue zoid's dischargers. The mighty weapons sucked in particles for a few seconds before shooting out powerful beams.

"Holy shit," Ven screamed while he just barely managed to get him and his zoid out of the way in time. He himself made Zero side-bound multiple times as more beams were fired.

Aero noticed the trouble his older brother was in and rushed to assist him. His own zoid began to shoot at the wolf from a fair distance, managing to catch it by surprise and actually dent its armor a few times. However, while doing this, the thoughts from earlier began to reenter his mind. The target in front of him was his…_his…_

Meanwhile, the wolf was stunned by the hits momentarily, and Ven took advantage of the opportunity and threw Zero up into the air, descending for a clean Strike Laser Claw. The attack chipped off all the armor around the wolf's right leg and several spots around it. The exposed wiring made crackling sounds as the mighty zoid collapsed onto its side. With a severely damaged leg, there was no way it could get back up and fight to defend itself.

"Looks like we won this one as well, Buddy," the silver-haired pilot exclaimed. The feline returned to the ground just a few feet behind the Konig Wolf. It was another hard-earned victory, one that would surely assist them in their ranking. "This went by pretty fast, though." But Zero saw things differently.

"_I wouldn't count this battle out right now if I were you," _he grimly growled.

"Huh? But why?"

To serve as an immediate response, Aero continued to fire with his Arosaurer from where he was, at both Liger Zero and the downed Konig Wolf. The feline was easily able to dodge the beams, but their opponent wasn't so lucky. All of the shots were completely unwarranted.

"Aero," the teenager called out to his brother, "what are you doing? It's over right now!"

"Not so," he calmly responded. "I have _one_ that I need."

"_One_ that you need?" Now Ven was really confused. "What?"

The dinosaur started to run in their direction and stopped firing from its guns. It was much slower than both of the smaller zoids, but got over to them in due time. Once it was over to their spot, the Arosaurer pointed its head down to look at the struggling target. The dinosaur's hatch then opened, allowing Aero to get a good view of what had been done.

"That's it, Aero, pull the hatch back down!"

"_Just be quiet,"_ Liger Zero ordered to his desperate pilot. _"I can sense something strange here, something that needs to happen."_

"Well he looks like he's about to do something really stupid," Ven fumed.

The preteen ignored what he heard come from his brother as he continued to stare at the Konig Wolf. The thoughts continued to flow, certain ones in particular standing out and almost entrancing him.

_One…is here again_, murmured a familiar feminine voice. He recognized it as the same one he heard back in the cave not too long ago, but it didn't scare him this time. This time, it seemed like a calling to his mind. No matter how hard anyone would try, he could not ignore it.

The Konig Wolf's own cockpit opened, exposing the fried robotic pilot. Its metallic corpse fell outside of the zoid and exploded due to the sustained damage it received from being thrown around inside of it.

_Come to me. Complete this._

Aero moved his safety harness up to stand up under the bright sunlight. Just like he had been trained to, the streaked-haired kid leapt out of the Arosaurer and into the defeated dark blue zoid below him. Once his feat touched the wall of the cockpit's inside, the damaged leg instantly rejuvenated to perfect condition, as did the dented bits scattered throughout the rest of the machine's body.

_Finally... I am full once again. And so are you, Child._

"What?" Aero pondered, snapping back to his normal self and taking in where he currently was. He jumped in shock when he realized he was standing on the opponent's zoid, with its own pilot gone. That was also when he noticed that the deceased robot was to his side. "Wait, we were fighting against a robot and not an actual contender?" Ven was shocked by the sight as well. He was wondering if this was something the Gun Snipers would need to know about.

_Yes. It managed to hack into my control scheme somehow. No human could do that, and I am now freed…_

"Hold on, you're a zoid?" Knowing that what he had heard earlier was what he was currently standing on top of came as a strange revelation to him. Then he recalled the carving he had seen in the same cave. Somehow, this zoid looked exactly like the one in the image. It was like a rebirth must have occurred.

_I have been waiting for you, for we were destined for each other. Now come, place yourself in me._

The words he heard made him extremely nervous.

_Do not be afraid. No harm shall come to you._

"If you…say so," he stuttered. It was hard to get himself seated sideways – he had to lift his right leg up and over the implanted chair. It was made easier once he got into a good position since the Konig Wolf's harness came down for him to keep him still. The blue hatch then descended, and Ven and Liger Zero watched in awe as the wolf zoid stood upright on its legs once again.

"You have got to be kidding me," the teenager said with his jaw dropped. Not only did their opponent's zoid just magically heal itself, but Aero was also able to take control of it as well. "I don't think I've ever heard of something like this happening before."

"_There's a first time for everything, Rookie."_

"Yeah, but only when it's logical, and shit, this- HEY!"

"_Haha. But hey, isn't that the same style of healing I experienced in that one battle with Thomas way back?"_

"It does seem familiar. A coincidence?"

"_Like I said, this zoid is giving off a similar aura to that of that ball-thing from before."_

"God dammit, we just never know, do we?"

"_We might be able to learn something if things keep playing out the way they are."_

"Well, hopefully, 'cause this is looking interesting."

While Ven and Zero were talking to each other, Aero was getting himself adjusted to his new zoid. Despite how different it was from the Arosaurer, he figured he could get used to it quickly. And how, you may ask? He'd use the now useless dinosaur in front of him.

"Watch this, Ven," he ordered to his brother. Afterwards, he made the Konig Wolf reach its electron bite fangs out towards one of his former zoid's arms before tearing it off viciously and using his own strike laser claws to rip apart its torso. He then performed the same move that had been used on him earlier in the battle and headbutted the dinosaur. As soon as it was fair distance away, he fired the dischargers at it once, and then a second time. This time, he waited five seconds for them to reach their maximum strength, where they completely blew the dinosaur away to ashes and left a long dirt trail that descended deep into the ground.

"Wow," Ven muttered. The enormous damage the last attack inflicted was comparable to that of the strongest charged particle cannons. That was all he needed to know that they had another extremely useful zoid on their side.

The judge stared at the zoids in massive confusion. From the distance, all it could see was the Liger Zero's pilot allowing its own teammate to be completely annihilated. At the sight of what must have been a death, the humanoid machine called the match off. Murder was a violation and would result in a guaranteed arrest.

"THIS MATCH IS NOW OVER," the judge announced, raising both of its arms. "THE DIRECT KILLING OF A DOWNED OPPONENT IS A VIOLATION OF ZOID-BATTLING RULES OF THE HIGHEST DEGREE AND WILL RESULT IN ARREST."

Ven and Aero listened to the judge in amusement since he clearly did not know what actually happened. The humorous tone died between them, however, as soon as they caught the sight of what looked like another judge capsule about to rain down on top of the current one.

And this one's color was black.

* * *

"So it looks like things are working well so far," Ragnarok mused. He had placed a miniature cloaked camera inside of the Konig Wolf's cockpit so that he could see if things played out how he suspected them. "He's the one we're looking for, eh? In that case, let's get this started for real."

* * *

The object kept on coming down. The judge heard something and looked up to see what was coming. He covered his head to defend himself, but unfortunately, that was not enough as he was smashed by the black capsule, leaving almost nothing left of him behind.

"_That can only mean one thing,"_ Zero growled. _"You may want to signal to our allies up in the mountains to stay ready."_

"Already on it," confirmed Ven. He found the channel to log into to radio the Gun Snipers about what was going on. Their leader informed him that they saw the new judge capsule come flying down and that they would stay on extreme alert if anything else suspicious showed up. "Alright. Otherwise, we'll handle the situation."

The black capsule opened up to reveal the much more sinister appearance inside of it. Anyone who was involved in Zoid-battling has seen its inner face before. To the heads of the Commission, all of their type was mainly known as the dark judges. They were infamous for representing all of the trouble the Backdraft Group has caused over the years and what the organization was known for doing: unsanctioned zoid battles, or zoid battles without fair rules. Here, this one was about to create trouble as well.

The dark judge shared the same general appearance as the Commission judge, except for its far darker shade of armor, of which could easily blend into the night sky. In addition, the top of its face was not flat but instead was made up of two crescents that were paved inwards.

"Hahahahahahaha," it sneeringly laughed into the air. This was all Ven and Aero needed to know that something bad was about to go happen at any moment. "Ah yes, the Liger Zero, the all-powerful mighty. I remember the good'ol days. This time, you will meet your doom, to the one and only Backdraft Group."

"_This stupid thing is just as annoying as I remember it. Damn, I wanna kick its ass!"_

"Battle mode zero-nine-nine-nine." The dark judge utilized the same poses as its brother-type. "Ready… FIGHT!"

Liger Zero and the Konig Wolf stayed in their places as nothing showed up. Both of them and their pilots kept on looking around to see if there was anyone in hiding. All they got was a long distended moment of silence.

"There's nothing here," Aero shared.

_Not quite_, announced his new zoid. To cue the next part of the battle, an explosion that traveled all along the tops of the mountains went off. The cries of the pilots in the Gun Snipers were all heard through Ven's radio contact, and the sight of the fires made him cringe.

"So this was planned," Ven yelled in anger, slamming one of his fists. When he looked up again, the all-too-familiar black Raynos flew only about sixty feet above him. "And he was the other contender!"

"Get him," Ragnarok called. "We have the kid that we want. Ready the emp bombs and nets so that we can take him and the Konig Wolf back! If you can, nab the Liger Zero as well!"

The feline and the wolf moved to see if they could get into a good position to shoot down the pterosaur. Right when they did, five Storm Sworders flew in over the mountains, along with four Warsharks coming in through the fertile ground, forming a square position around the brothers. Ven looked for the Raynos's channel and initiated a video relay with its pilot.

"So what is the meaning behind all this, hey?" he demanded from the commander.

"Let's just say that your companion, and possibly you, too, is a very much needed person elsewhere." The dark man grinned with excitement, fully confident that today would be a success. Bringing a dark judge into all of this who could foresee anything his targets may have setup against them in advance was sure to guarantee the victory of a suspicious battle that he had successfully lured the brothers into. Now it was just time to get things right.

"You really are sick, you fuck."

"Oh, spare me the harsh words for later, because I don't have the time to hear them." Ragnarok cut off the relay as he forced his zoid to swoop around so he could oversee how his troops handled the mission. If need be, he would launch into the fray and help deal with the Liger Zero and the Konig Wolf. Right now, he wanted to keep both of them intact.

The Warsharks swirled around them to confuse the Commission pilots while the Storm Sworders flew over them and proceeded to drop the bombs.

"Look out above us," ordered the stressed teenager. Aero saw them too, so they both moved their zoids out of the way, being careful to not get hit by the zoids below them. However, as soon as the fliers left, the Warsharks pushed themselves to chase the duo and made small jumps into the air to shoot nets from their mouths. The nets, however, did not travel at a high enough speed, enabling the wolf and the feline to split apart and dodge them.

The coelacanths also split up into groups of two and took charge after them. The fish were far from fast enough to keep up with their much more versatile opponents, bringing the Storm Sworders back into their strategy. But after previous experience, the Konig Wolf was prepared for them. Aero brought the dark blue zoid to a stop and searched for the location of the white pteranodons. He saw a couple of them coming back, so he readied his dischargers by pointing them at the aerial targets. They were coming straight for him and were not prepared for him to fire right at them. Before the fliers could do anything, a couple particle beams were fired and struck them dead-on.

The beams streamed through them with no effort at all. Their mechanical bodies soon ignited from their off-balance and missing parts, lighting up the sky as what remained of them came crashing down. The other three attempted to sneak up on Aero from behind and dropped their emps without the younger pilot noticing. But right when the bombs were only about twenty feet from making contact with the wolf, shock cannon shells shot them away. The sound of the explosions surprised him, drawing his attention to his back, which was the only place the gunfire could have come from.

"I got your back, bro," Ven consoled to his brother and teammate. Aero shifted his eyes back to his screen and nodded as a 'thank you'. He then stared down the other Storm Sworders and activated the Konig Wolf's missile pods, which were placed below its neck.

_I have advanced lock-on technology equipped, so this should be easy._

"It _should_ be," Aero emphasized.

_Try it._

As soon as a popup displayed on his screen that said his missiles were ready, he held the buttons on his grips to watch red circles close in around the pteranodons. The word 'LOCKED-ON' flashed on them when their shapes were completely encompassed and Aero let go. The missiles then flew out at a surprisingly high speed, arcing through the air to surprise their opponents and striking them critically. By now at this point, he knew Warsharks must have been closing in on him by now, so he left his position and ran off.

Meanwhile, Ven could see the top fin of a Warshark approaching him quickly. At a certain point, he knew it would leap out again and try to entangle him in another net, so he told himself that he and Zero would not fall victim to something so simple and came up with an idea.

"Come and get me," he declared. When the fish did indeed expose itself again, he side-bounded Liger Zero before the net could capture them. The coelacanth returned into the surface but kept the same fin up. This would prove to be a big mistake as soon as it tried to brush by the feline, because Ven opened his zoid's powerful jaws and used them to clamp down on the small fragile part. The feline struggled to yank the Warshark out, but soon did, hurling it towards the fin of his other chaser. The collision forced the other Warshark to flip upwards onto the flat surface, where both of them laid in a heap. In an almost classic fashion, Liger Zero blitzed forward and struck them down with his Strike Laser Claws, effectively decommissioning them for good.

Ragnarok was watching the battle take place and, much to his destroyed hopes, it looked like he would have to join in.

"Damn, that new kid's a fast learner," he commented, regarding how well Aero was able to pilot his new zoid. "And we _really_ could use him. I'll just have to do dirty business for now."

The black Raynos swarmed into the hectic fray and traveled straight towards the Liger Zero. This time, he was hell-bent on defeating it. The other zoid would surely come back to him as it more than likely wanted to dishout some revenge-service to him.

Ven heard a loud swooshing sound in the air and knew that it could only have belonged to the deadly black flier. He turned to find its source and quickly ran away to escape from its constant firing. Some of the Raynos's lasers and shells successfully scathed Zero's white armor, but they were not enough to inflict any serious damage. But Ven knew he would not be able to keep it up, so he made Zero perform a sharp turn and kept him moving. When the shots started to miss, Ragnarok flew the aerial zoid far away before coming around again. He knew he would be able to catch the legendary zoid off guard while it was running and dove towards it with his Storm Claws and Spike Claws ready. He planned on finishing off the feline similarly to how he disabled BEEK.

Unfortunately, Liger Zero was already familiar with some of his tactics and was able to predict when the commander would attack again. To counter him, the zoid took control temporarily and brought himself to a halt to avoid running into the pteranodon's striking line. By the time Ragnarok recognized the liger's sudden change in movement, it was too late for him to stop coming down. He would be able to pull back up before colliding with the ground, but his agile opponent had another idea in mind.

Liger Zero readied his Shock Cannons and timed his shots carefully so that his shells would hit the Raynos's wing and possibly damage it enough to bring it to the ground. The cannons fired and hit their swift target with success.

"Graaaggghhhh," shrieked the Backdraft leader as his zoid took the blows. Luckily for him, not all of the shells hit his wing so he was still able to fly, albeit the movement he experienced was shaky. "Are you serious? The Count was right after all about that zoid."

He was soon back in the sky, watching the Konig Wolf trail right beneath him. Ven caught sight of the Warsharks chasing his brother and used his Shock Cannons against them, aiming precisely at their fins. Once the coelacanths were exposed, the wolf skidded, spinning one-hundred-and-eighty-degrees to face the last of the swimmers. Both Ven and Aero had the same entertaining idea in mind as they flocked towards the two defenseless zoids and proceeded to use their close-range weaponry to tear away at them. Just like the other two Warsharks, they were disabled permanently. The sight disturbed Ragnarok greatly as he then realized that things may not go their way.

"So this is how it is? The Commission is going to have our most important zoid?"

Blood was quickly swelling through Ragnarok as rage boiled inside of him. If things were to turn out the way they were looking like they would, then all of his hard work will have been in vain. In addition, The Count would also make sure to have his head for another big failure.

"THIS WON'T HAPPEN! I WON'T LET IT!"

He looked around for the remaining Storm Sworders while wiping away his sweat. They'd have to make one last desperation attempt, one that may or may not work. They, too, were still flying with sustained damage. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to make their pilots be up to what he was thinking, but he had to try. The commander radioed them to tell them what to do.

"Everyone, while we can, I want Storm Sworder one-eight-seven-five to rush the two of them right now and drop all the emp bombs you got. Number two-six-nine-twelve, if that doesn't work, and they go off in the same direction, I want you to try to hit them with yours. If they split up, I want you to try to get the Liger Zero while number five-six-nine-eight targets the Konig Wolf, our key zoid to bring back. I will fire at them to try to distract them. If this does not work, we will bail out immediately. There is no way we can win a battle against the two of them in our current state."

"Roger that," the Storm Sworders's pilots complied, much to his relief. One of them pushed his zoid into a rush above Liger Zero and the Konig Wolf and dropped his emp bombs. As expected, both of the ground zoids jumped out of the way in two different directions. The Raynos's raged pilot then decided to tail the dark blue runner and fired all the ammo he had left relentlessly.

_I can sense who he is_, Aero's zoid informed its pilot. _Of course he would come after me._

The wolf knew of what must have been the commander's huge discontent, and because of this, she was not surprised that he would come at her so aggressively. This made it easy for her to dodge his shots, as well as the second Storm Sworder's last batch of emps. The ones that were dumped above the Liger Zero also missed easily since that zoid was so agile. What then happened almost served as a heartbreak for Ragnarok. He could have sworn that the battle's imbalance was in their favor, so where did things go wrong? And how were the Konig Wolf's pilot and the Liger Zero's pilot able to be so well-functioning as a team?

"I can't believe it," he muttered. "That's it, soldiers: we're outta here! We'll get them next time!"

When Ven and Aero saw the Raynos and the Storm Sworders fly away, they were shocked, and so was the dark judge. Who were the Backdraft Group to flee during a fight?

_They won't get away_, said the wolf. Aero was confused.

"But what can we do?"

_Pull your steering handles out and push them forward. Then push them back in. Watch what happens._

The preteen wasn't quite sure about what the zoid was telling him but he decided to go with its word. After having done so, his seat shifted around so that he'd be laying flat on his belly with a second safety harness rising up to keep him stabilized. The movements surprised Aero, causing him to temporarily freak out while they did their job. Then, a dark blue visor behind the Konig Wolf's ears rose up before coming back down in front of its eyes. The piece of headgear served as scopes, allowing the pilot to see up to six miles away.

"Wow," Aero mumbled under his breath. The large range of combat capabilities this new zoid seemed to have was staggering to him as well now. "I think I get the idea."

_Use_ _that and aim the barrels that are on my back. I have a thing against one of those pilots up there._

Using the visor scopes, the streaked-haired pilot aimed straight at the black Raynos and charged his zoid's dischargers to maximum output. As soon as they reached that, he let go and watched the particle beams fly straight for their target. Ragnarok was able to hear something coming towards him, and when he got an image of what was coming, he cried out in horror. All the pilots made a vain attempt to escape, but the blasts singed their zoids as they only managed to cut away at their backsides. The wind force of the particle beams then sent them flying in several different directions, with the commander being thrusted downwards to the tree-filled land beyond the mountains. The others were crashed into where the camouflaged Gun Snipers had been.

Warning signs of his zoid being in critical condition flashed throughout Ragnarok's cockpit. He struggled to reach for the eject button in the zoid and was finally able to push it right before the black Raynos hit the surface. His seat was ejected upwards and shot out a parachute above him.

"Grrrrrrrrr…" He clenched his fists and stared at where the battle had taken place. "DAMN YOU! I SWEAR THAT I'LL HAVE MY REVENGE!"

* * *

It took about ten seconds for the beam trail to completely dissipate into the air. When it did, Ven just stared in amazement again. The overall combat statistics of this new zoid were amazing, if not at the very least comparable to that of the Liger Zero's. The legendary zoid himself also couldn't help but acknowledge what he had just witnessed.

"Did we just…beat Ragnarok?" Ven queried.

"_I don't know if we've seen the last of him, but I think so,"_ replied Zero.

The visor on the Konig Wolf flipped-back to its original position as Aero's seat rearranged itself back to a sitting chair. The dark blue zoid turned to face the white and black one in an eerie manner.

_Ah, the Liger Zero, it looks like. I'm pleased to meet you after all this time_, it said, making sure that its message reached Aero, Zero, and Ven. However, unlike the former two, the teenager was dumbfounded by what he was hearing.

"Huh? What was that?"

"_It was the zoid in front of us. A Konig Wolf, am I correct? And how do you know of me?"_

_Yes, I am a Konig Wolf. I've been told of who you are by passers and believe that you and I have a strong reason for standing here right now, face-to-face._

"_Is that so?"_ Liger Zero demanded. _"For another reason, your aura seems familiar to me. I only sensed it before when the pilot inside of you was trapped somewhere. What is he to you if you're also a sentient zoid? And why did you fight us before switching to being on our side?"_

_I had my control scheme hacked into, so I could not choose what to do or what to think. As for what this pilot is to me, I do not quite understand that myself. All I know is that I sense he and I have a preset fate to share._

"A preset fate?" Aero jumped in. "What is that?"

_I do not have an answer to give, Child. All I know is that to me, you are 'one' that I am destined to be with._

The whole thing was becoming a headache to Aero. First a new zoid, now something about destiny? He could only wonder about what was up. But there was one small thing that he figured he'd have to know before they went anywhere else with their chatter.

"Well if so…what is your name?" It was a somewhat tricky question to the Konig Wolf, but an answer, after so long, did finally come to mind.

_My name… Heh, that's something. I was raised under the dark skies and reborn during the night, making me…_

A moment of silence occurred as she tried to find the right word. And then it came.

…_Midnight._

"Strange name," Ven added. "It's definitely a lot cooler than 'Liger Zero', though."

His words soon bit him as the feline shuffled around a bit to shake him up inside the cockpit.

"Hey! I was just kidding!"

"_Just take that back before I decide to throw you out like those others from that wrecked desert base."_

"All right, I'm sorry," Ven moaned. Midnight found their relationship amusing.

_Looks like you two have your own destiny to share._

"_Meh, we get along. Usually."_

Seeing that they were all getting along, the teenage pilot took notice of one other thing: the dark judge. All the black robot was doing was staring up at the sky in a frozen state.

"Hey, Judge! So who won," he called through a video relay. The judge almost stumbled over when it heard Ven's voice.

"Wait, oh, what?" Then the realization hit it. "Ohhhhhhhhhhh… The winner is…"

It passively raised its arm up, looking as if it was struggling to do so. Its head was also lowered as if in defeat.

"…the Liger Zero and the Konig Wolf."

The four of them cheered at the sound of those words. It was a victory where strange odds were held against them, but the two brothers and the Liger Zero, along with their new companion, a Konig Wolf called Midnight, managed to pull through. But the thought of whether Ragnarok was done for good or not was something they kept wondering about. In his recorded history, he always had a tendency of 'coming back', or showing up randomly. Regardless, today was proof for them that the biggest threat from the Backdraft Group was indeed defeatable, especially after there having been so many losses against him. It was something that the Commission would surely take in by the loads.

For them, it, along with the obtaining of a new powerful zoid, was another step in the right direction.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Yes, Midnight's dischargers pretty much are Charged Particle Cannons, lol.


	15. To Be Trusted

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters (excluding Aero and Midnight) and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**Author's Note:** Replies to anonymous reviews will be posted on my profile page (if an e-mail address is not attached).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**To Be Trusted**

The rage, the feeling of having lost, the dying pride. All of it consumed the dark commander as he gazed in the direction in which his precious Raynos had crashed. The zoid would now be useless in its wrecked state, and all he'd be able to do was stare at it, thinking about what its destructive sight represented. If he had ever failed before, he had really done so now. But when taking notice of his current condition, that would have to become a thought for a later time.

Ragnarok's seat fell through several tree branches and snapped off from the parachute that was attached to it as it got caught. The resulting impact with the ground was enough to sprain several of his bones and made it extremely taxing for him to move. He fell face-first from his seat into the brown dirt, forcing himself to twist his head so that he could breathe. The pain and the grumbling grew worse as he kept dwindling on all of his problems.

"God dammit," he swore, "this is bullshit. What the fuck is wrong with everything I do or everything I work so hard to achieve?"

He placed his palms parallel to the ground to begin to push himself up. Once his body was at a ninety degree angle, he stared at the ground, eyes wide from the rush of the tumbling and his minor lack of breath.

"That stupid mechanized blue junk is now against us, and _me_. It and the Liger Zero, you have got to be-"

Another pain hit him in his legs, strong enough to make him wonder if he'd ever be able to walk again if he didn't find treatment soon. But given the way the world must have currently viewed him, why would anyone willingly help him? The commander was a heartless murderer and a selfish expert zoid-battling interceptor in everyone's eyes.

While thinking about that, a large shadow of a man closed in towards him. Hearing the footsteps, Ragnarok looked upward to see who was coming. The sight of the man's face and his red hair was enough to trigger him to pull out his Desert Eagle and aim it straight at him. The incomer was shocked, but seemingly felt secure about the situation.

"Easy there," calmed the 'archaeologist'. "I'm only here to help. I heard an explosion and saw you and a Raynos fall out of the sky."

"Don't play dumb with me," Ragnarok grumbled out. "No fireworks are crazy enough to make me forget who you are, and what you did. You defied a direct order from _me_, your fucking commander!"

"I would not forget who you are, trust me."

"And that's where you've crossed the line: I don't. Anyone who second-guesses me always has a record of being a backstabber."

The red-haired man kept moving forward anyway.

"You take one more step towards me and you will have had it. Just go away," shouted the commander. All the incomer did was give a dissatisfied expression.

"It would certainly seem as if life really hasn't been nice to you."

"You think? If not, then why did you bring your ass over here?"

Then came an action the Backdraft pilot did not think anyone would ever enact towards him. The archaeologist turned around for a moment before swiftly spinning around again and kicking the Desert Eagle out of Ragnarok's hand. He did not have time to react and could only watch as his prized possession went flying away. He then watched as the 'backstabber' went to go pick it up. Never in the past had someone been able to knock it away from him.

"I told you before that I study geography, right?" the man queried. "That means that I also have an understanding of what goes on around specific types of areas. This is a forest, so you'd be highly prone to being crushed by a Baratz zoid if you stuck around here. And like you yourself said, you're my commander, and the top commander in the Backdraft Group. That's why I came over here to help you."

He picked up the pistol as Ragnarok stared in awe.

"This could definitely use some checking up," the archaeologist analyzed, looking it over while noticing the spot where he kicked it. There were some defined black markings on it from his boot, ones that would surely last a while before they would be successfully cleaned off.

"You really sound like you've got something else in mind," the commander emphasized. "And I'm not one to be played."

The archaeologist laughed.

"Now you're thinking I'm dumb. I know you're not easy to fool. Everyone in the Backdraft Group knows that. And I'm sorry, but from the way I read that ancient text in the cave, it sounded like there was more to it somewhere else. You'd be amazed at what I found."

"Somehow I doubt that." The pain in his legs grew more intense as he tried to move them just so he could get some sort of grip on the man. All that he succeeded in doing was grimacing and letting out loud groans.

"I'm not surprised. That's why I need to tell or show you what I have learned. You need to be tended to first, though."

The Desert Eagle was put into one of the man's pockets before he moved back towards Ragnarok and picked him up so he could throw him over his shoulder.

"I was actually doing studies around here, so my own Storm Sworder isn't too far away. We should be back at the base before daybreak."

The commander just remained stubborn and attempted to clench at the back of his helper's body in order to give him some kind of pain. He kept telling himself that he would have rather died than be touched by someone who defied him for one reason or another. But here, he felt powerless, as he had been rendered just recently.

"And if it helps any," the man began, "my name is Xavier."

* * *

To say that people were shocked would be an understatement for how the citizens of Remma were currently feeling. Ven and Aero felt that there was no point in hiding their new zoid, so they brought Midnight into the city limits for everyone to see. No one had ever seen a mech like her, and the security forces were quick to pick up on the wolf's presence and intended on getting a hint as to what she really was. Was she an intruder?

Liger Zero and Ven were quick to ward them off, telling them that the Konig Wolf was being controlled by Aero.

_So this is where the 'normal' people live, right?_

"Yup," Aero chirped excitedly. Showing off his powerful brand new zoid to the president was something he was anticipating greatly.

"Everybody, make way. This large dark blue zoid is with us, so don't worry," Ven called out to the public. The security forces quickly got on Midnight's nerves, however, especially after having been surveyed up close by the Backdraft Group's own zoids. There were several instances where she was tempted to twist herself and aim at them, but Aero restricted her.

"We're safe here, they're on our side."

_You better not be wrong._

Word of the Konig Wolf inside the city's perimeter spread around Remma like wildfire. After walking down the streets for only a few minutes, Ven had a video relay of Malcolm pop up in front of him. The old man looked anything but pleased.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" the president demanded. His face was the last thing the teenager was prepared to see so soon, causing him to jump in his seat and throw himself backwards against the metal chair. He had to take in a breath and regain himself before he was able to respond.

"Oh, calm down. It's a new zoid that Aero managed to obtain. He's piloting it right now. I'll fill you in later."

"You damn better if you do not want to be relieved of your role. You know what that would mean in addition."

"I got you," Ven said almost reluctantly. "We'll be there in half an hour if possible. We just need to know where to park our new zoid."

"Just leave it outside on the street in front of the Zi Tower. I want to get an immediate up-close look at this thing, just to see what on Zi you brought back with you."

Malcolm's face disappeared. The last thing Ven saw him do was head to his right, presumably to get ready to come out. That was the cue for him and his brother to speed things up a bit. Aero got the orders from his brother, watching as the feline in front of him broke into a fast walk. The preteen and Midnight followed up with the same steps.

Meanwhile, Zanzer was on the ground staring up at the zoids, telling his forces through an earpiece where the Konig Wolf was and what to do. In the midst of all his yelling, he managed to pick up the president's signal.

"Just leave it alone," the old man told him.

"Are you sure, Mr. President?"

"Yes. I'll be taking a look at it later, just like I did with the Liger Zero. I may need your guards around, though, just in case something goes awry."

The situation still sounded suspicious to him. This zoid was a complete unknown to them, so he did not trust its presence in Remma that much. This made acknowledging Malcolm a bit difficult for the security guard.

"Understood, then." With that, the Liger Zero and the Konig were the only two zoids visible to the public. Ven went to go park the feline in his respective hangar while Aero found the front of the Zi Tower and parked the wolf there, her rear end facing the entrance to the massive building. Malcolm had just butted out through the doors when the younger pilot arrived. The president himself seemed panicked.

The streaked-haired kid opened up the hatch so that he could get out and hit the ground. Once his feet met the road, he could hear some of the old man's yapping about his new zoid.

_This human is already annoying me himself_, complained Midnight.

"Don't worry, you two will get along somehow," Aero soothed. It was evident to him that she was feeling bitter about something, something that likely had to do with why they were fighting her not too long ago. But right now, until his older brother showed up, Aero would have to try to explain things to the surprised president. And explaining was not his forte.

"So how did this happen?" the old man wondered, expecting the kid to say something.

"I took control of her during the battle." Malcolm looked at him as if he was stoned. First, did this kid really switch zoids during a fight? This zoid wasn't even theirs, anyway. Second, did he also just indirectly say his zoid was alive? "What?"

The president placed his hands behind his back and walked up to the youngster.

"I gotta explain this to you, too, don't I?" he complained when he and Aero were only a few feet apart. "Zoids are just machines, nothing else."

_What_, Midnight cried, more than loud enough for Malcolm to hear and feel startled. Her sudden attitude even made Aero jump in fright. He thought he had grown accustomed to her, but it turned out he still had a lot to learn about the wolf. The hold man desperately searched around to see if he could find the source of the feminine voice.

"Who was that? Who's there?" He went so far as to looking around the Zi Tower and under the Konig Wolf's legs, but found no luck. "Just show yourself!"

"Easy, Midnight," the pilot wished. "This guy can be crazy."

_I don't care! Now what did you just call me?_ She demanded. This time, since he was right below her head, she looked down at him and growled. When he looked up, the wolf's face was all he needed to know that no matter how much he didn't want to admit it, it seemed as if the zoid was speaking to him. (sweatdrops)

"No way. It's not possible…" Malcolm muttered.

_It certainly is, and you better take back what you said before I-_

"Stop it," Aero intervened. "Please, don't fight right now! Not after what we just went through!"

_We wouldn't fight, because he wouldn't last._

Malcolm still stood there in complete and utter shock. Perhaps Ven _had_ been right about the Liger Zero. But, it was all nonsense, so he must have been hearing things. That didn't answer why the zoid was looking down at him, though, and why Aero seemed to be able to hear words from it as well. Maybe there was some bit of fantasy that could be real…

He squirmed away, trying to take it all in. The world was hard enough for him to deal with due to the actions of the Backdraft Group, and then there was _this_. How would the public further react to this zoid if they started hearing it speak to them? They were already intimidated by it to a large extent. It seemed as if the best option was to keep Midnight hidden and locked away, as if she would let that happen. Besides that, her overall equipment did look rather enticing when regarding its possible usages.

"I'm…" he halted, thinking of what would be the best thing to say. He had never held a conversation with a mechanical entity, let alone thought that they could think and hear, so this was beyond any sort of comprehension for him. "I'm sorry. I did not mean what I said. I meant that as a basic fact, not as a derogatory phrase."

_Hmmmmm… And you're gonna keep yapping._

"No, I will…not."

"So what are we gonna do with her?" Aero jumped back in.

Hearing a zoid referred to by a gender was still getting to the president's head. But he was asked an important question and had to answer it. It was one he should answer, too, because going any further with the wolf-type in any way could prove detrimental to him.

"Just stay here for the moment. Your brother will be here in a bit as well, and I need to talk to him about this."

"What's wrong with talking to me?" The preteen was feeling shafted. He was now officially working under the government and felt that he deserved to treated as one of them.

"You're still too young. There's a lot of things you wouldn't be able to grasp that he would. But don't worry – you'll get your time."

And being young like Malcolm said, Aero was impatient. He didn't want to wait to receive an attitude change from the president. He had already done enough to make up for his past mistakes, so what more was it going to take? However, he could not argue with Remma's leader, as doing so would encourage Midnight to do so as well.

"Oh… I get it," he forced out in response.

"That's good."

In the meantime, Ven came running into view. He had changed back into his white shirt and green vest, along with his black pants. Small drips of sweat were dropping from his face due to having tried to get there as quickly as possible. Leaving his younger brother with an old man like the president just did not seem reasonable. Malcolm noticed his tired appearance and somewhat complimented him for it.

"At least you made good time."

"You don't know," Ven panted. Fortunately, all his training had conditioned him pretty well, so he didn't have to bend over to make it easier for his lungs to take in fresh air. "Anyway, like always, you have something to say, right?"

"I've actually already heard quite a bit," he said, giving a disturbed sidelook to the Konig Wolf. His facial expression was all the teenager needed to figure out what he must have heard.

"And so now do you believe me after all this time? It was also hard for me to believe it at first. I even passed out back then because of it."

"I can't really argue in return," the distraught grey-haired man admitted. "It's still…"

Malcolm place a hand on his forehead and closed his eyes.

"It's something I'm gonna be thinking about for a while."

"I never stopped thinkin' about it, so you may wanna prepared yourself," Ven warned. At the same time, he laughed, having finally found a way to convince the president of what he had always been telling him. He never intended for him to start believing him through this way, but he didn't care – it all works out in the end.

"I can see that," Malcolm replied. "Anyway, I still want to know what happened. Something must have gone on, like I suspected, because you coming back with a zoid like that and without your brother's Arosaurer seems strange."

"Oh, you're not gonna believe it." Ven straightened himself out before moving on. "The zoid right here with us was being controlled by some weird robot pilot and was our opponent. Then we disabled the robot and…"

The rest was hard to explain. Knowing that it was his younger brother that understood what really happened, he turned to him and looked at him for help. Aero took the message and kept the story going.

"…And then…I'm not sure how to put it…" he stuttered. "It was like I felt a need to be with this zoid, so I abandoned my Arosaurer and hopped into this one's cockpit after we took it down."

At this, Malcolm told himself that he wanted to cry. Now this thing was capable of some kind of voodoo magic, just to complicate matters. That had to be the reason. Ven took over the conversation again.

"Then a dark judge capsule came down from the sky, and before we knew it, we were surrounded by some of Ragnarok's forces. The Gun Snipers were bombed by something, so we had to do away with War sharks, Storm sworders, and his own Raynos all on our own."

That bit of information, however, was enough to throw the president out of his stupor. He looked back up at them with wide eyes.

"Wait, and so did you two actually manage to defeat him?"

The brothers nodded. This was almost too good to be true.

"Or did he actually only escape?" They shook their heads. This caused his jaw to hang as low as it could, with his eyebrows raised to the sky. "This…"

His teeth began chattering. The sound of them moving started to make Ven and Aero feel uncomfortable. They had never heard any such sound come from him.

"This… THIS IS A MIRACLE!"

And neither of them even saw it coming: Malcolm lunged into them to give them as big of a hug possible, knocking all three of them down in the process. Both of them groaned loudly thanks to the sharp pain that hit their backs as soon as they collided with the concrete ground. The old man's weight didn't make anything easier, either. Then he pulled all three of them back up and started rubbing their heads with a huge delighted smile. (anime happy eyes)

"I'm so proud of you guys! I knew you were both capable of great things, especially you," the old man congratulated, looking down at Ven. "All this time, I was just waiting."

"Right," the teenager moaned. "'All this time'… that's understandable."

While the president was joyously laughing, Ven managed to pull himself out of his tight grip. Aero, on the other hand, wasn't strong enough to break free as he kept flailing around with no success.

"Hold on," Malcolm ordered, stopping all of his movements. The preteen still tried to break free. "Did he crash on the battle site?"

"Nope." Ven dusted himself off. "He tried to fly away before your 'captive' there shot him out of the sky. I didn't see where he crashed, and I didn't bother to chase after him since he went beyond the mountain range."

"Oh…" the bigger man turned his head to look down at the struggling kid and let him go. Aero almost fell over once he was let free. "So you're today's hero?"

_It was moreso me._ Midnight's voice was enough to disturb him again. It was almost like he had to suck in a massive amount of breath and confidence before talking to her.

"Ah, yes, you… Ahem, you…"

While saying that, he thought of how strange it was that she was sentient, too. Liger Zero was an ultimate X, so was she one as well? Was there in fact a third?

"To you, much credit is due."

_Mhm, Mr., I would like to agree._

"But I still want to know what you are if you're going to be here in my city." Midnight proceeded to explain.

_Let's just say that the kid is 'one', and that we make two. I'm his zoid for use, and strictly his._

A zoid taking a stand was also a new concept to him. If this was a person he was talking to, he would not have tolerated the attitude and he likely would have put them in their place. But since this was a zoid that was seemingly clingy towards one of his pilots, he just had to live with it.

"I see, but that's not the answer I am looking for. I mean, why can I hear words from you?"

_I'm wired and built by ancient standards, so I am capable of sending out speech soundwaves for you humans to interpret._

"Interesting…" That also explained why he had never seen a zoid such as her in person. He had read about Konig Wolfs in books, but in the end, that was all just on paper. In addition to that, nothing about them was ever listed as 'magical'. "Very interesting."

_I'm not surprised you think so. You seem very unenlightened when it comes to the things that exist out there._

"Do not question me like that!" Malcolm ordered. "I'm the president of this planet for Eve's sake." He didn't expect it, and neither did the brothers, but Midnight would not put up with his word usage.

_What did you just say?_ she demanded, twisting her head to get a daring look at him. _How dare you use that name in such a context!_

"Hm?" It was something he didn't understand. Why would anyone still care about the Zoid Eve? It had supposedly disappeared and gone into hiding where it would never be found again, so he saw no reason for anybody to get sensitive about it. Unless…

"You sound like it means something to you," Malcolm continued.

_It does. A lot. It's rather personal. _

"Personal, eh? It doesn't sound like you're really willing to share much, either."

_You're quite right._

The president still couldn't get it. However, he also did not feel like spending much time on the subject. He was still wrapping his mind around the fact that he was actually _talking_ to a zoid, and one that it looked like it would indirectly serve him. At this point, he decided it was best to leave her alone about it.

Then came the thought of where she would be parked when she wasn't needed. Given that she was capable of giving off a strong attitude, she would have to remain somewhere where she could be kept in check. None of the bases nearby had the equipment to deal with the raw power that her weapons looked like they possessed, and in that case she would just take up space. This meant that there were severely limited choices. It seemed like no place would be able to keep the Konig Wolf occupied well. But then, one last idea did come to mind…

"If that's how it will be, I won't push it any further. Instead, we'll just put things to a rest."

Malcolm then shifted his attention back to Ven and Aero, moving his eyes between both of them.

"She would best be placed alongside the Liger Zero. A sentient zoid should fare better alongside another one than a zoid that is stale."

"You sure about that?" Ven asked. The teenager was concerned about putting a zoid that they're still unfamiliar with nearby his own trusted buddy. Plus, she seemed like she was capable of wreaking havoc with ease.

"Yes. There's no better place. All the other places we could put her in consist of people that would possibly greatly irritate her."

"But how do you know that she wouldn't be able to deal with them?" Malcolm moved in to the pilot's ear and whispered.

"There's a lot of people that can act like Thomas around here," Malcolm answered. The security guard's name alone was enough to tell Ven and Aero to just listen to him and do as he said.

"I guess," Ven said, scratching the back of his head. "I can't really argue with that. If that's the case, then let's get to it, Aero!"

"Okay, Bro."

Before they got to work, the brothers looked at the president and saluted him. Malcolm took in the gesture and smiled at them. Despite some of the things they've done, both of them knew how to accomplish their work in the end, and do it well while they're at it.

He watched the Konig Wolf leave as Ven helped to guide his brother along the best pathway to Zero's spot. Once they left his sight, he trudged back into the Zi Tower to get back to work.

But before he entered the elevator, he put his hands to his face and rapidly shook his head sideways.

* * *

The Backdraft base had gone ablaze with constant chatter. Everybody there had heard of how the powerful Konig Wolf was going to actually become useful in just about no time. Even the people whose houses had been damaged earlier were now growing excited, knowing that the zoid had enough strength to mark the end of the Commission. Their hard-fought-for efforts after all these years would finally show the results that they had been anticipating. Everything that was owed to them would now come back to each and every one of them.

But Ragnarok himself was thinking about the wave of disappointment that would come his way. By now, The Count must have noticed that he could not successfully send a transmission to his destroyed Raynos or his damaged earpiece. He would know that something had not gone according to plan.

_This time I'm done for_, the commander mentally told himself. He was almost positive that he'd become yesterday's business to the lord. Everything that he had been involved in for the past few weeks had led to the Commission coming that much closer to being able to defeat them. At this point, it looked as if they should just surrender. They were now up against two of the most powerful zoids in the world, one of which almost managed to destroy them from the inside-out. Plus, very zoid they've thrown at them was either smashed or blown away.

To the blue-haired man, complete victory was starting to become awfully superficial.

Xavier knew the commander needed immediate hospitality given the condition that he was currently in. The Storm Sworder flew towards the closest hangar with an open spot.

"Make way! The commander is injured and needs to be tended to immediately," Xavier announced to everyone inside the building through radio. Its front entrance opened up all the way to allow the Storm Sworder to come in. The flier's head was lowered as far down as possible as soon as its feet touched the ground. This would allow the paramedics to assist Ragnarok in getting out and to medical care.

The roof above both pilots lifted. Once the dirty air of the large room hit them, Xavier jumped out while the paramedics escorted Ragnarok out of the cockpit and the hangar to the base's treatment center. They deployed a hovering medical bed for him to lay on. He grimaced and groaned again when the paramedics picked him up to sprawl him on the it. He swore that anyone who accidentally injured him even moreso would be the end of him.

The center was close enough for them to arrive there in about five minutes. A large crowd gathered along the streets while he was transported there in an ambulance hovership. The entire Backdraft Group was shocked when the news about the damaged condition one of their biggest leaders was in spread around. That, plus, they were also surprised by the absence of the Konig Wolf. Was that zoid not supposed to come back and actually serve them now? Several suspicions quickly arose regarding what the commander was really up to.

The doors of the medical building were swung open to speed up the process of getting Ragnarok to a room where the condition of his body could be analyzed. His bed was pulled out of the hovership and pushed into the building where a path to a patient's room was cleared for him. The paramedics rushed him into the room and began to ask him questions about what had happened to him.

"It's just stupid," he whined to them. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID! ARGH!"

The pain hit him again when the doctors started to check the areas where they suspected damage was done to him. This involved removing his boots and pulling up the lower sections of his clothing. The sight was that of large red patches of skin that covered his somewhat displaced ankle bones. They could also see that his knees didn't seem capable of moving that well without the Backdraft leader spitting out numerous profanities. For the next few days, he would have to be on some kind of support before he would be able to walk again normally on his own.

"I had to eject from my Raynos after it was shot down by that…by that damn…that damn blue piece of magnite shit!"

While he continued to grit his teeth, he could hear the footsteps of someone else walking in. He knew it wasn't another doctor as whoever this was wore heavy boots. There was only one other person he knew he wore such footwear around the base: The Count. The lord himself walked in swiftly with an enormous degree of displeasement emanating from his heart. The green-eyed man ordered everyone else to leave the room so that he could speak with his right-hand commander privately. The doctors protested, but he gave them a dark murderous expression. All of them backed away from him and gathered anything they may need to tend to other patients while they waited for The Count to be finished talking to the commander. Business was on the his mind, business that he had actually been thinking about for a while.

"So, tell me something," the bald man insisted, taking a seat on one of the chairs beside the Backdraft leader. "Actually, tell me a lot of things."

"I think the way I look right now says a lot," the injured Ragnarok said.

"Too bad for you that it doesn't say enough. At least not enough to give me a good reason for what must have happened."

"If it helps anymore, a zoids statistics don't seem to mean much when it is capable of doing things on its own."

"Then I guess that much we should all take as a lesson."

"Oh, fuck, you think so? I am fucking okay with that from here on out!" Even at this, The Count couldn't help but somewhat laugh. He always liked how the commander went along with however he himself currently felt.

"But however, you, more than anyone else, should. You also should have thought about it after your crew's fight against the Liger Zero didn't work out. Now, as far as I can see, you didn't manage to bring the Konig Wolf back with you, did you?"

Ragnarok closed his eyes and shook his head.

"AND THAT'S WHAT I MEAN," cried the dark lord. "THAT ZOID WAS EVERYTHING TO US! AND SINCE YOU DIDN'T COME BACK WITH IT, WHO ENDED UP WITH IT?"

Again, the commander said nothing.

"Of course, it was those Commission dogs. Those scumbags, those gold diggers, those monarchy-run rats! And now they hold the two big keys to having things the way they want them. Why? Because you could not execute a simple plan that we had established!"

"I couldn't execute it?" Here, the commander gave his lord a disdainful look. "I and my men played the part as perfectly as we could! Are you saying that I should be taking the blame for successfully riding off of numbers that turned out to not mean shit? And you expect me to understand how mechanized sentience functions as a part an overall zoid? You're out of your mind!"

"So then whose fault is this all really? If you're gonna tell me it's no one's, then how am I going to communicate that to our people? 'Something that is beyond our control is the reason why we lost what may have been our last hope of finding success'? Look, the fact is that you and I laid it all out. We had it picture-perfect. Plus, as a commander of the Backdraft Group…"

Ragnarok already knew where this was going, and he did not like it one bit.

"…you have been trained to see external variables inconsiderable by anyone else amongst us and to make do with them on-the-fly during a mission!"

"Yeah, I know, including one that supposedly disappeared altogether about a hundred years ago, maybe even longer," the injured man added sarcastically.

"You had read about it, so you knew it existed."

"Because words in a fucking book of all things have applied to me as of late."

"They're applying to you right now. What, you thought that what I gave you to read while I trained you was meaningless? It was not all just to make you my top commander, but to make you my _true _commander. You were brought up to never make failures in close spaces of time. But really, I'm starting to wonder what you are to me after all this."

This alone really pissed off the commander.

"Grrrrrrrr… I'm the reason why we've even gotten to the point we're at! Look at the number of zoids we've accumulated because of what I've done for us! Now you're doubting my worth?"

"No, I'm not," he replied. "Your worth has been more than justified. But the same cannot be said about some of the results you've spawned. Of course, you know what I'm referring to. An example would be like how we may no longer stand a fighting chance against our biggest enemy."

"And you're putting it all on me. Of all the external variables to think about, sentience is a really mixed one. Other variables such as more enemy zoids than expected or a drastic change in weather conditions are things pilots are always inclined to adapt to, perhaps each at different rates. But no matter, because they do so whether they were trained to or not! Sentience, on the other hand, is something that no one has any real idea of how to get used to."

"Then if that's true, and that's how you saw things, how come you did not take the extra time to further develop our plan?"

At this, the commander was at a loss for words. What The Count had said was true – why had he not done so?

"It's because-"

"There's no need to say much else," The Count interrupted. "It is because you had no idea what you were doing, and that is such a shame. I guess you're just not as much as we all thought you were."

"You know what, though? You were a part of this plan as well," Ragnarok shot back. "You also sound like you have an understanding of zoids that are regarded as powerhouses. So I think that by the end of all this, part of the blame should go towards you as well."

"Part of it should go to me? What, are you joking? You've experienced the Konig Wolf's power first-hand, _and _you have fought against the Liger Zero before. Like I've always said, missions that involve you are always in your hands. You can either hold on to them and keep them in your grasp or let them slip, and you let your biggest ones _slide off_! I mean, look at what has resulted: the Commission now has the two strongest zoids they may ever get, and what's left of us has already been damaged from the interior. And you mean to tell me that the one who, to a large degree, has acted as our 'crimson knight', is not the one who is completely responsible for all of this? Has this role of power gotten to your head?"

For the second time, Ragnarok couldn't come up with anything. His lord, like he was scared of happening, had managed to run him over. Things were certainly on the downfall.

"I may have to consider what many of us here, particularly myself, would have deemed improbable not too long ago. As you're probably guessing, it does involve you. If you keep this up, you just may be viewed as one of 'them'," The Count informed, pointing off into the distance where he swore the city of Remma was located. "The costs we have been losing and suffering because of you now… Ohhhh boy."

The bald man then stood all the way up and gave his once most-trusted follower a downwards stare of discontent.

"I'll leave you to think about what you should do to redeem yourself. Perhaps after spending some time in this room, you will come back better and stronger in every way."

When he finished speaking his last words, The Count turned back around and moved out of the room. He told the doctors that they could come back in and get back to work. In the meantime, Ragnarok just held a blank stare through the window into the outside world. He could see that there were a lot more changes that were about to be underway in the world…

Whatever the world was to him.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hey there, guys! I've been noticing something lately, and that would be that the mass majority of my reviewer base is gone. I'm just wondering if people are still paying attention to this fic, because if you are, _please _give me your thoughts on how things in the fic have been going so far. It's really just to help make this story better overall.


	16. The Secrets Kept

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters (excluding Aero and Midnight) and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**Author's Note:** Replies to anonymous reviews will be posted on my profile page (if an e-mail address is not attached).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**The Secrets Kept**

"We're almost there," Ven yelled to the dark blue zoid. He was loud and clear enough for his younger brother to hear him. The massive 'house' Liger Zero resided in was highlighted against the blue sky as it stood tall next to the buildings surrounding it. The teenager carried a remote control with him in his pants pockets that operated to control the white structure's inner workings. For this instance, he used it to open the entrance door as they came within two hundred feet of their stopping point.

"I can see it," Aero called back. The feline's white paint could also be seen due to its stark contrast against everything around it.

* * *

**Liger Zero's POV**

It was all just when I thought things were finally starting to calm down. Seriously, right then and there. Everything was returning to the ideal peaceful life that I've been wanting to live. A battle here, maybe one battle the next day or a few days later, yada-yada-yada-yada. By some rare chance I would have a second battle on one day. Then the Backdraft Group got involved in our problems once again, along with that dark judge… Grrrrrr…

That wasn't what drifted on my mind up until now, though. No, it was that other zoid, the Konig Wolf. Ever since we headed on our way back, I never really got the chance to discuss things with it. Why did it remind me of the large ball-shape I saw after I got my butt kicked by that elite Backdraft soldier? On top of that, its personality was stranger than anything else. 'She', I'm assuming, kept calm, despite having fought me earlier and sounded fairly confident about having that kid as her pilot. He was someone she had never met before and she trusted him on-the-spot. And I can't help but think that at the same time, she is somewhat…enchanting…

Then I heard the doors open before I caught a glimpse of that blue zoid. I could barely see my pilot's figure in front of it. He was making hand gestures, pointing her towards me.

Oh great.

* * *

The dark blue zoid strolled through the wide open entrance to accompany the Liger Zero. Ven stood to the side with his hair glowing in the sunlight. It would be easy for Aero to take care of things from here after having practiced all aspects of controlling a zoid.

"You gonna come along with me to meet Rachel and Zanzer again?" Ven invited.

"No thanks," piped the thirteen-year-old. "I still want to get to know Midnight here first." The pilot on the ground nodded in acknowledgment.

"Alright, then. Just don't do anything crazy like you sometimes do."

"Who's that coming from?"

The silver-haired guide smirked. He then gave one final look to his own zoid before departing.

"You go ahead and try to keep things under control," Ven requested.

"_I've been attempting to do that my whole life,"_ Zero moaned. _"What the hell."_

Ven kept his smile and walked out of the building, closing the entrance behind him. He planned on meeting Rachel and Zanzer nearby, so he didn't need Liger Zero to get around quickly. Since one of them had control over all the security forces under the Commission in the world and the other could easily relay orders and news to the soldiers around them, he figured it would be best to discuss the situation regarding Ragnarok with them.

Back inside Zero's parking spot, Aero was making himself comfortable inside of Midnight. Liger Zero, on the other hand, couldn't quite do so himself. No, not with another intelligent mech standing right beside him.

"_So…"_ Liger Zero trailed, hoping to kick things off on a good note, _"What brings you in here?"_

_I don't quite know. Some cocky older-looking guy thought it would be best for me to stay in here, even though it's packed!_

"_And that's a problem for you?" _Not only did it strike Zero that this zoid was very strange, but had a weird taste in things as well.

_Yes! I hate it! I always want my personal space._

"_Oh, come on, there's still a lot of area to cover in here if it means so much."_

_I notice that. But maneuverability isn't my greatest strength._

'Goddamnit,' Zero thought. 'She's going to be a grouch, too?'

**(Author's Note:** A combination of words surrounded by single quotations like right above display what a character is thinking in their mind.**)**

"_Too bad, then,"_ he growled.

_Yes, indeed. Way too bad. Like this whole huge place, or city, or whatever it's called is all looks and no substance._

"_There's way more that you don't see. It just takes some time getting accustomed to."_

_Yeah, like everything, it all takes time._

It didn't seem like she was about to calm down anytime soon. Clearly something had riled her up. Because of that, Liger tried changing the subject, while Aero was confused by hearing Midnight speaking and Liger Zero growling.

"What's up with you two?" the preteen queried.

_Just everyday things, Child._

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Then, to hopefully not disturb Aero if he was hearing things, Liger made a request.

"_You can communicate the same way that I do, right? In other words, just making noises like me?"_

"_Yes, I can,"_ the wolf said in her 'native tongue'. Then she responded back to Aero, _Do not worry about it, I will tell you later._

"But I wanna know now," he whined. "I always have to wait till later before I get to know things, all because I'm still a little kid!"

_And you will right now. Me and your…brother's zoid? Yes, your brother's zoid have something we need to talk about. Give us the time for that._

"Wah." Aero's fake cry, however, did nothing to phase the Konig Wolf. When he felt the timing was right, Liger steered things back to where things were originally going.

"_So what exactly are you?"_ the feline asked.

"_As you guessed before, I am a Konig Wolf. Anything else?"_

Liger Zero did not like this…but he somewhat did.

"_You know what I'm getting at. You're capable of human speech in some form or another, and I told you I've sensed some part of you when that kid you have in you was stuck somewhere. Then I see you effortlessly take down a Raynos that almost devastated me not too long ago. And on top of that, who are you?"_

"_Yup, yup, yup,"_ Midnight took in, thinking about how 'unique' she supposedly was. _"I go quite a few ways back. I can't remember exactly when, though. For a long time, my body remained stuck in an unexamined hieroglyph, as it was the role I was assigned."_

"_Your role? Wait, how far back can you actually remember?"_

"_Like I said, I can't give you a numerical answer. But what I can recall is this young adorable girl standing in front of me, chanting an incantation. She and I were great friends for the longest time. She even piloted me from time-to-time. I believe her name was…_

The blue zoid paused for a moment. She wasn't saying anything, so Zero intervened.

"_Her name was what?"_

Then the answer came.

"…_Elisi Linette. Yeah, that's about right. She had blonde hair that floated sideways and deeply red eyes. Why she had imprisoned me is still vague in my mind, but I know she had a good reason for doing so."_

While she was explaining things to him, Liger Zero got lost on the name Midnight mentioned.

"_Elisi Linette, Elisi Linette… Fiona!"_ Now it was the wolf's turn to be confused.

"_Fiona? Who is that? Of what relevance is that to the name I said?"_

"_That was a name someone that was close to me gave her since she couldn't at first remember who she was when we first met. You knew her?"_

"_I was about to ask you that,"_ she groaned dismissively. _"How could you know of her?"_

"_Oh, well… Urgh, Eve."_ She also caught that last word.

"_You too?"_

"_I what?" _She was not about to play games.

"_You also use that name in vain?"_

"_It's just a figure of speech. There's no real meaning to it."_

"_I'm sure…"_

Zero could see that she was not going to be easy and didn't push the argument any further. He just wanted to know of this mysterious zoid's connection to Fiona, and she wanted to know the same of him as well.

"_Anyway," _he kicked off, _"she was also a good friend of mine. A really close one, in fact. I met her at a set of ruins where we were both laid unconscious. I was the first to come to when a stranger opened up the pod I slept in. Then on multiple occasions, we found ourselves caught in the same life-and-death situations, and generally I saved her. That's sort of the gist of it."_

"_So something of your size remained stuck in a containment pod? And the girl was in one as well?"_

At this point, the legendary zoid realized that he would be the one doing the most explaining, going against what he initially intended. But he had to work to keep the new and uncomfortable Konig Wolf happy.

"_Well, there's a bit more to all of this. Ever heard of organoids?"_ That rung a bell in the wolf's electronic mind.

"_Mhm. I believe I've even seen a few of them a while back. Didn't they have some ability to merge with a zoid and make it stronger?"_

"_They did. And I'm proof of that."_

"_You're an organoid holed up in there?"_ It felt strange to the feline explaining this to someone else, but he couldn't break the conversation flow now.

"_Yes. I'm permanently bonded to this zoid, effectively making me this zoid pretty much. I used to be referred to as 'Zeke' before I did this."_

"_And how long ago was that?" _Midnight demanded. _"Especially since you claim you knew Elisi Linette."_

"_It was about four hundred years ago."_

"_Hmmmmm… So it has also been four hundred years since you last saw Elisi Linette? Or Fiona?"_

"_Yup."_

"_That sounds like a logical amount of time. At least, with the way I gauge it."_

"_Logical?"_

"_Zoidians can only live for so long."_

"_Psh, I knew one that managed to stick around since the ancient days,"_ Zero groaned, recalling a red-haired zoidian that had once attempted to wipe out humanity. _"I actually had to kill him, though. He had other sinister ideas in mind."_ At this point,Midnight couldn't help but to also feel intrigued by Zero.

"_It almost sounds like you've been subjected to a lot of different things."_

"_To this day, I still am. You being one of them."_

"_I can tell. You did seem shocked when you saw that I was moving in here. I still can't appreciate it myself, as you know."_

"_Oh, I know. You made sure that I knew."_

"_Haha." _Liger still wanted to keep the things moving forward.

"_But you still haven't completely told me what you are. I never really imagined a Konig Wolf possessing the overall combat capabilities that you have."_

"_I told who I believe is your guys's ruler this before: a piece of knowledge that has been installed into me is that I am modeled by ancient standards, so my equipment may be a bit unusual. It's also the reason why I can communicate with humans and zoidians."_

"_Well I can definitely say it's unusual, especially given how you finished off our last fight. I don't think I've ever seen an 'ordinary' zoid mount dischargers on their back like the ones you have. They're practically charged particle cannons as far as I can tell."_

"_Maybe."_

"_And I also want to know this: if you were trapped like you say you were, then how did you ever hear of me? Did 'passers' just walk by wherever you happened to be stuck?"_

"_Pretty much,"_ Midnight chuckled. _"I don't believe where I remained was really covered by anything, not since I've heard more than one voice for as long as I've stayed imprisoned."_

At the same time, the feline was feeling pretty proud of himself. If average people were talking about him when they traveled to other places, that meant that he really meant something to the world. He knew he did, but it still helped to make him feel a bit more glorified.

"_And I assume that from there they spoke of me."_

"_They mentioned a Liger Zero and what it looked like and had supposedly done. You were apparently quite the hero a while back. During Elisi Linette's time?"_

Then that name mellowed Liger Zero. It brought back the memories of what was long lost.

"_Yes, and even beyond that. The time that I was around her isn't what the people around here seem to know about. I haven't even told my own pilot yet."_

"_So that other kid who guided me along to in here doesn't know your true identity?"_

"_No."_

"_And what's so bad about telling him?"_

"_I just don't really feel comfortable about how he'd handle it,"_ moaned Zero. He wondered how long he would have to keep his secret about being an organoid deep down. _"He's been raised to know of me as the 'Big Bad Liger Zero', because of my famous recent history that has to do with today's problems. About one hundred years ago, I was the zoid that put the Backdraft Group, the same organization used you initially during our fight, out of commission."_

Midnight couldn't help but snarl. Thinking of them and Ragnarok reminded her of the beef she would be holding against them for a while.

"_They managed to come back to power, though, apparently thanks to their last pilot I defeated. I still can't really believe that kid would try to make a comeback. So I've continuously been counted on to put them down again, to fill the same role. And since I've been looked at that way, I don't really feel changing my perception amongst my pilot is a good idea."_

"_But are you going to tell him?"_ the wolf insisted. It sounded to her like everything that was on Zero's mind was bothering him.

"_At some point I will. The best time would probably be after all is said and done, if that happens. Right now, everything is looking good."_

"_Hopefully. Because I personally really _don't _like their commander, or leader, or whatever he is." _Midnight then calmed herself down before continuing,_"I still want to know exactly what you did around Elisi Linette. She and I felt precious around each other. Was it the same with you two?"_

"_Yes,"_ Liger Zero woefully recalled. _"At least, sometimes. There was even one instance where she told me she wanted me to help her sacrifice herself so that we could effectively kill the Deathsaurer. Luckily, we found an alternative."_

"_The Deathsaurer…"_ the Konig Wolf pondered on that name since it sounded so familiar. _"Come to think about it, I recall her mentioning the Deathsaurer the last time I saw her. Was it a powerful zoid?"_

This surprised the black and white zoid. She had heard of himself but not the Deathsaurer?

"_It almost wiped out everything on this planet, and kept everything polluted for a long time. The bad air looks like it is only now starting to clean up."_

"_Wow… But if it was that strong, how did you beat it?"_

"_Well… It's chest area, where it's core was, didn't have impenetrable armor. The rest is rather complicated to explain."_

"_Hmmmm… that's interesting."_

And in some ways, she got on his nerves.

"_What is up with the way you talk? You always sound mysterious or mystical." _Midnight 'laughed' quietly.

"_I'm just not in the best of moods right now. I've said there wasn't enough space for me in here, and there still isn't."_

"_You fit just fine. I know an old hunk that's probably even worse off than you right now."_

"_That doesn't change anything as it is."_

'Eve,' Zero thought. He figured BEEK was right in telling him that he was also an oldie. Attitude was hard for him to deal with. Aero, however, broke up their chatter by releasing the locks that held Midnight's hatch down.

"Are you two done yet?" he demanded. He himself still wanted to get to know the Konig Wolf better.

_Yes, for now we are_, the dark blue zoid mumbled. _Now what's on your mind?_

"You two were loud. And I still don't really know who you are."

_Just know me as your zoid for use right now._

"Yeah, but why did I fall into a trance earlier today? And why did I hear your voice at a cave? And why did I see a zoid that looks like you drawn on a wall? And why did you have a robot piloting you? And why did you get mad with the president easily? And why did you two make so much noise? And why did you two take so long? And if you were both 'talking' to each other, what were you talking about? Tell me!"

This didn't help the Konig Wolf's current feelings. Was she really going to have to go through everything again so soon?

_Gaaaaaaaaaahh... It's all a lot to take in. I'm not sure if that's okay with you._

"I can sit for a long time, so I can listen for a long time. And I'm bored!"

Zero couldn't help but be amused. It looked like he wouldn't be the only one with an on-again-off-again zoid-pilot relationship.

_Okay, well…_ she began, _Do you know anything about staying stuck in one place for a long time?_

"No."

_Then forget it for now. I'll tell you later._

"No!"

_Yes._

"No!"

_Yes!_

"No!"

_Child, I can keep this going. You'll know what you want to know when I'm in a better mood to describe things to you._

"But you just described things to him," Aero cried.

_One time's a charm. That'll be it._

"But… Grrrrrr."

And so Liger Zero just listened to the couple of them. He was just glad to know that this new companion was at least someone he could understand and relate to, despite the conflicting personality.

* * *

Ven kept walking down his pathway until he approached a four-story hotel building. The hotel was also white with a light shade of blue, so it stood out. He moved underneath the entrance's pillared overhang before stepping inside through the automatic doors where in the brightly lit lobby sat Zanzer and Rachel. The entire room in itself was a sight to behold by modern day standards: a tiled floor of diamond blue sparkling against the protruding light that came through the windows. The beige couches and chairs complimented the shine and formed a square arrangement around a glass table and in front of a TV.

"Long time no see," Ven greeted to the security leader. The blonde took a sip from his glass of water.

"Same to you. It sure seems like someone has learned some control since the last time we met in person." Zanzer stood up to shake the young pilot's hand. Rachel got up as well to hug him.

"Sometimes I wish I had more, given what I've been through recently."

"I bet. We'll discuss that in the conference room we have reserved." The bigger man stepped aside to allow the lieutenant and Ven share a momentary embrace.

"I was wondering what had happened when I saw you and your brother come back with that one zoid. I was kind of worried," she told him by his ear. Then she whispered, "So was he."

Ven laughed for a second. Some things were apparently changing for the better. Wrapping his head around the idea of Zanzer caring for him was going to take some time, however.

"He must have been," he whispered back. "I think I made up too large of a chunk of his life recently for him to not miss me." Rachel laughed in return. The two of them then let go of each other and smiled.

"Right this way," the guard directed. He turned right at the lobby exit with his water still in his hands. The lieutenant and the pilot followed him down the hallway and made another right turn, where the conference room door could be seen on the left. Zanzer held the door open for both of them, allowing them to take their seats at the large square brown table first. The soft twistable chairs felt strange initially but proved to be of great comfort nonetheless. Zanzer then let the door close by itself before finding his own chair to take. He and Ven sat on opposite ends while Rachel sat four seats away from both of them, on Ven's left and on Zanzer's right.

Both of the adults took out a sheet of paper and their own pens, making the teenager feel awkward. He himself didn't have much with him besides a cellular phone and the remote for the building that currently housed Liger Zero and Midnight. It almost intimidated him since he wasn't sure at this point what they were really going to be doing, but he told himself to just go with it. They couldn't have been expecting much from him right now, right?

"So let's not waste any time and get started," declared the blonde, clicking his pen. "First of all, do you know what actually happened to Ragnarok?"

"It wouldn't surprise me if he died," the teen replied. "His Raynos took a really nasty hit. I couldn't tell if he ejected in time or not." Zanzer and Rachel quickly jotted that much down.

"Were there any zoids that went down with him?" the woman asked. "In his direction, that is."

"It didn't look like it. If he did survive, he's probably stranded in the middle of nowhere."

"This is just great," the security head moaned as he dropped his pen. "We don't even know if the man is dead or alive. By now he's had a lot of time to move away to somewhere else where we wouldn't be able to track him down easily, if at all."

"Don't give up on us like that," Rachel complained back, mimicking his motion as her own pen hit the table. Then she turned her attention back to Ven. "Was there a dark judge involved?"

"Yes there was, and oh my Eve, I can't believe how freakin' irritating those things are!" The teenager rested his forehead on his hand as he thought back. He didn't think there was anything more irritating than some of Liger's or Thomas's words, but the judge proved that very wrong.

"See, that's something," she threw at Zanzer. "Since a judge was involved, that means that battle was filed under his record. From there, we can determine which judge was involved in that battle and look into the data to be able to see whatever the judge saw. We might be able to get a visual of where Ragnarok crashed exactly."

"It's worth a shot. Thing is, we haven't even tried something like that in a long time. I've only been working in the Commission's security sector, so I don't know if the record system has changed."

"It hasn't. As a lieutenant, I look into it a lot when trying to get a breakdown of any new pilots that may fight for our us."

"Well, go ahead and try it," the guard encouraged. He pulled a circular laptop device out from under his coat and turned it on, thrusting it into the middle of the table. "Luckily, I brought this with me." He then pulled out a pair of gloves and handed them to Rachel. They were designed so that one could control the holograms projected from a distance. The lieutenant put them on and immediately went to work. The tips of them projected straight laser lights that were used to interact with the images themselves.

"Alright, we'll see what we can do…" Rachel muttered, staring intensely at the projections. She logged in as an administrator and hit the internet icon. Once she was on the web, she went to the zoid battling record website and signed in as herself. She then searched for Ven's profile, and the numbers she saw were stunning. "Wow! Ven, of the 20 or so battles you've fought, you haven't even lost yet."

"I know. I got a lot of prize money in the past few weeks as well." Zanzer just smiled. He had to admit that this pilot turned out to be _way_ more than he ever thought he would be. In a sense, they were good colleagues as of now.

"There's the one we're looking for." She dug into the last battle's data and examined which dark judge he had. "Oh, that one has a history of being a nasty jerk. Then again, I guess all of them do, but that one can be real bad."

"You talking about the judge?" Ven wondered.

"Yeah. I hate those fucking bitches," Rachel mumbled. She then started the playback of the fight from when the dark judge had intervened and fast forwarded towards the end to save time. Once the playback reached the desired point, the lieutenant stopped it and stared awestruck at the beams that were headed towards the Raynos. "THIS is what we have with us now?" Even Zanzer was amazed.

"I was shocked when I saw that, too. I'm glad it likes us."

Rachel continued watching with her jaws dropped. There was just no way they had been lucky enough to have nabbed a zoid like this, and from the Backdraft Group during the middle of the battle as well. She saw all the flyer zoids take a critical hit, with the Raynos being thrown downward afterwards. Whatever happened to the pteranodon next wasn't visible.

"That's all we're gonna see of him," Ven declared. The dark brown-haired woman closed the video down and swore to herself.

"That didn't help much at all," she complained. "All we can gather from that is that he probably crashed in the forest beyond those mountains. I do believe there is one beyond those ranges."

"And like I said, he's probably moved away to somewhere else by now," Zanzer restated. "Knowing him, he probably took off immediately after hitting the ground."

"Maybe. Then again, hitting those trees should cut him up him pretty bad."

"They probably did, but he's a persistent bastard. He never gives anything a chance to stop him."

"Dammit, Zanz, you always gotta see the bad side of things." (anime sigh)

"I'm in the security force – I see the bad side of everything all the time."

"Just please lighten up for once."

Rachel sat there and tried to think of if there was anything else they could do. Then Zanzer spoke up again.

"By the way, I forgot to mention this, but we do have someone else joining us. He should be here shortly."

"Who's this 'someone else'?" Ven questioned, removing his hand. Rachel looked at Zanzer since she had the same question. He never told her anything about another person showing up.

"He's the spy that the president said he wanted you and your brother to meet. He's got some news to share with you two. Once this meeting was set up, I told him arriving here would be convenient. I'm pretty sure you can fill your brother in on whatever you hear later."

"'Depends on if he'll listen."

Then a knocking hit the door. Zanzer told whoever it was that the door was unlocked and that they could come in. The knob twisted and the new person stepped in. Upon twisting his head to get a good look at whoever it was, Ven noticed that the newcomer, or spy, looked strangely familiar.

"I'm sorry if I'm late," he apologized, closing the door behind him. He was careful not to drop his folder that was filled to the brim with papers. By turning around, though, it seemed as if he was trying to show off his long silver hair.

"It's no problem, Ken," Zanzer accepted. "We still have plenty of time to use up, anyway." The long-haired man, covered in his white coat and blue khakis, took the seat opposite of Rachel and dropped his folder down. As soon as he seated himself, the conversation resumed. "So you've been telling me that you have something you want to show this kid."

When he heard the man's name, it only took Ven a few seconds to remember exactly who he was, and it made him wonder if he himself was currently stoned. He couldn't believe it.

"Indeed I do," confirmed Ken. The spy turned to look at the pleasantly surprised teenager. "It's something that I'm sure will greatly assist us in putting down the Backdraft Group for good. Which reminds me…"

Ken reached out to shake the pilot's hand. Ven returned the gesture while slowly lifting his own arm.

"…It's been quite a long time since you and I last met."

"Uhuh," was all the shocked kid could push out.

"You two have met?" Rachel queried. Ken would be the one to respond when he noticed that Ven looked to be in some kind of stupor.

"We met once at the desert base not long before it was destroyed. It was also after I located the Liger Zero and we had it excavated." Ven, however, was still stuck thinking about the fact that this man was even standing where he was.

"How did you make it out of that bombing alive?" the young pilot pushed. He never saw another zoid take off to leave, nor did it look like there was a chance for one to even make an attempt.

"I reserved my own sandbike while I was there for scouting purposes I had planned for later that evening," Ken answered. "Of course, I had to use it for escaping means instead. I was fortunate to avoid all of the combat that was happening." Ken returned to his seat to open his folder. "But back to business. I've actually got pictures and data regarding the things I want to show you, and you two as well," he referenced to Zanzer and Rachel.

The spy took out three pieces of paper and handed them to Ven for him to look at. The pictures alone almost shocked the teenager again.

"In my spare time, I decided to research additional details about what the Liger Zero has performed during combat in the past. As a result, I came up with these three different physical variations that the zoid can adorn. Simply put, they're armors. Each of these armors has a different name: the blue one is called the Jager, the red one is called the Schneider, and the green one is called the Panzer. These all go to show that the Liger Zero is compatible with a technological transfer system that is often abbreviated as the CAS, short for 'Changing Armor System'."

The pilot flipped through the pages in awe. The different armors each had different strengths that would be hugely useful in certain battle situations. The Jager would grant Liger Zero ultra speed, while the Schneider and the Panzer would make him a powerhouse in either close-range or long-range combat. And knowing the Backdraft Group, they were likely going to find zoids that were advantageous in certain situations now, so these armors seemed perfect.

"In the meantime, I've gathered a team that could utilize these schematics, and they have managed to successfully reconstruct these armors. The copies used in the past cannot be found, and even if they could, their condition would make them useless at this point."

"Hold on, so I've had these available from the start?" Ven couldn't deny that this long-haired man was very out-of-the-ordinary. He seemed very calm when he first met him, and he still is. Ken didn't show any sign of positive or negative emotions, even though he came close to dying once and didn't have anyone tell the teenager that these armors existed.

"The team actually just finished painting them today. There's still testing to be done. In addition, going by the word of Ragnarok supposedly being out of the picture now, I assume you have time to partake in helping us out."

The teen looked at both Zanzer and Rachel before getting a slow nod from both of them.

"I think I do," Ven said. "At least today, and probably the next few days as well."

"The Backdraft Group usually doesn't do much for a while if they've experienced a hard loss," the lieutenant pointed out. "Getting other pilots to cover for you shouldn't be an issue. With the way things are, people around here are a lot more confident to handle things themselves."

It seemed like things were settled: Ven and Liger Zero were going to be getting new armors to use, ones that looked like they would be a great help in future battles.

"That's good. Besides that, dragging my zoid out of his spot should be pretty easy tomorrow. His parts could just use some restoring after what he was put through today."

Upon hearing the gender-related words, Zanzer and Rachel looked as if they weren't quite sure what they were getting involved with. The lieutenant thought it was kind of cute, while the security guard leader thought it was a little bit annoying. What was going through the teen's head? Ken, however, wasn't moved at all.

"You guys don't have to look at me like that, you know," the silver-haired pilot suggested. There was something they still couldn't grasp.

"Sorry, we couldn't help it," Zanzer said. Ken jumped back into the conversation.

"So, midday tomorrow? All of us?"

"I'm sure I can find the time off."

"Me too," Rachel informed. Then Ven finished things off.

"I just need to know where to meet."

Ken handed the teenager a map of Remma with a red dot at the bottom left corner of it. It looked like another closed-off area that no citizen had probably really explored before.

"Just let the scanners at the gates scan the Liger Zero and you'll be allowed in. I will be there at the gates to help guide you along." Ven nodded to let the spy know that he was taking everything in.

"Sounds good."

At the same time, he was also very excited. He was about to be introduced to a whole new world of combat possibilities that would likely seal the deal in every battle from this point on.

* * *

The Backdraft commander remained laying on his back, even into the next day. In his current condition, he was completely useless, both to himself and to everyone whose trust he had obtained. Thinking about trust, that brought him back to the days he had tricked Zi's own president, Malcolm, into thinking he was one his comrades. This was surely not the first time that people had begun to doubt him, and it was all starting to feel like everybody was against him.

A wheelchair was conveniently placed next to his bed in case he ever felt the need to move around the inside the building. Most patients were never given one to use whenever they felt like it, but since he was one of the Backdraft Group's commanders, he had the right to do as he pleased.

'What's to be done now?' was the phrase that kept circling in his mind. 'I might as well get up and go around to see if anything has changed already.'

The commander sat up and tossed the blankets that were covering his feet off, meanwhile while brushing his navy blue hair out of his face with his other hand. Looking at them, he saw his ankles covered in bandages that would have to remain on for the next few days. He swung one foot over onto the wheelchair's leg rest before swinging his other one. He then used his hands to lift himself before successfully placing his rear onto the seat. After comfortably sitting down, he spun the wheels so that he could leave the room and see what was going on.

The doctors who saw him immediately came up to him and asked him how he was doing. What they were really trying to find out was if he was truly well enough to be out of his room on his own. Ragnarok dismissed all of them, telling them that he just wanted to find a TV so that he could hear the news. When they could tell that he was fine, they redirected him to an empty playroom with a TV in it. A nurse handed him a remote and turned the monitor on. Grabbing it, he used it to flip through the channels until he found the Backdraft news station. The commander found the channel quickly and watched as the The Count began to make a public announcement from his office.

"I am sure we have all heard the news of what has happened to Commander Ragnarok," the bald man started. "Luckily, it is fortunate that he is doing fine right now with only some minor injuries that will heal in due time. But this does not mean all is well. What I'm referring to is that you were all promised that the Konig Wolf would return with its full-functionality at our complete service. That has not happened and will not due to the failure of our previous mission. And with three of our troops already under the Commission's possession, the future does not look bright for us. That is why I have a solution that will have great positive strengths for us."

The commander zoomed his eyes in closer to the TV so that he could catch every movement the lord made. They didn't have the best relationship right now, and Ragnarok was dead sure The Count was going to mention something he would not like one bit. As he watched the man move his chair to the side to make room for someone else to kneel down, he figured out what was coming next. An older grey-haired woman who wore a green military shirt and green pants took the spot right next to him, her blue eyes piercing through anybody who looked at right at her.

And it was at this point that he officially hated The Count

"My fellow Backdraft followers, you have all met Commander Velvet in the past. She used to be one of our top-ranking zoid pilots and now serves as a chief for our military. However, after some heavy consideration and voting among our council members, I am moving her up to the Top Commander position. Now, I know that this leaves all of you, and even some of us over here with some questions, particularly pertaining to-"

Ragnarok turned the TV monitor off. If it wasn't official now that he had lost everything, he didn't know when it would be. The nurse saw his distorted facial expression and grew worried about how he was feeling. She knew that what he had heard on the news must have trumpeted in his ears..

"Are you okay, Sir?" the woman asked. The blue hair on his head almost seemed to swivel as he looked down and dropped the TV remote. "Sir, are you…"

He continued to ignore her. The commander backed out through the doorway and proceeded back to his patient room with his bed. For one time in a long time, he had something he had no idea of how to cope with.


	17. The New Powers

Disclaimer:

I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters (excluding Aero and Midnight) and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**Author's Note:** Replies to anonymous reviews will be posted on my profile page (if an e-mail address is not attached).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**The New Powers**

It didn't take long for Ven to return to Liger Zero's hideout. In fact, he got there much quicker this time around, knowing that his fellow zoid would probably be mentally jumping in his place when he heard about what was going to happen.

"Yo, Liger," Ven called once the massive door lifted up enough for him to see the two zoids. "Looks like me and you are going to be busy tomorrow, buddy."

"_Why, what's up?"_

"One of the people who works around here found information on something that pertains to you, and from there, there's a surprise for you."

"_You're capable of making a decent surprise?"_

The teen's expression quickly shifted from being happy to disapproving. There was another smartass comment from his most trusted companion.

"It's not from me. Instead, it's from a whole team. They've reconstructed a set of armors called…the…um…"

He searched for the papers he had received from Ken and found them in one of his pants's pockets. After taking them out, he began to list off the armor names.

"There's a blue one called the Jager, a red one called the Schneider, and a…"

The memories instantly clicked. Before Ven could finish, Liger Zero jumped in to conclude what he was saying. The feline was definitely surprised at what he was hearing, and at the next phase that he was probably going to go through.

"…_green one called the Panzer!"_

"Yeah…" the pilot stuttered, putting the papers back away, "…you got it."

"_All I can say is I'm surprised they weren't restored a long time ago."_

"Well from what I've been told, these are brand new copies." The sound of that struck a chord in the zoid's mind. He wasn't going to be wearing the exact armors that made him so glorious so many times? Then again, as long as they operated the same way, things would be fine.

"_But how did they get the data to be able to reconstruct them?"_

"Dude, I'm sure you've realized that these people just don't stop being incredible in all kinds of different ways."

"_Yeah, I know that. I tell myself that every time I see the president. But…what the hell?"_ The teenager laughed.

"It's nothing much. I met the same spy that located you in that desert in the first place. He's pretty much the reason why you're even out here again."

"_And?"_

Ven rolled his eyes as he felt rudely interrupted, holding a fist up to his mouth.

"Ahem… I was getting to that. I guess you peaked his interest enough after that that he decided to do additional research on you, and managed to pull schematics for your armors out somewhere."

Again, Liger was blown away. Not so much by the fact that the information for rebuilding his armors was found, but by the idea that information regarding everything about him during the last century was hidden somewhere. Who knew who knew what about him. Even worse would be if the Backdraft Group was able to look him up. They would surely use the data they find to their advantage.

"_Somewhere? That's vague."_

"I thought it sounded weird, too. Still, it's something, and I read papers that listed what you are capable of doing with these things on. You're happy for once in forever, right?"

"_I am, and I am not. I've missed those armors, but it's suspicious to me how the schematics could be located, even after all this time."_

"Oh, we'll just say you're really happy," Ven argued. "Come on, admit it."

"_Please don't go there."_ Aero then decided it was his time to jump in. Midnight's hatch lifted so he could get a good look at his brother.

"So there's something else cool and exciting?" the kid beamed.

"Yes, Aero. There is. It's only for me and the Liger Zero, though." Aero's bright mood dimmed considerably.

"Awwww… But why?"

_It sounds quite interesting thus far_, the wolf commented.

"_None of you have any real idea."_

"So," the feline's pilot started, grabbing everyone's attention, "me and the people I spoke to agreed on testing these armors tomorrow. 'Just thought I'd give you a forewarning. We're starting at midday."

"_Thanks. I'm fine with it."_ Ven turned his head to look at the younger pilot and his own zoid.

"You two could spectate if you wish to."

"You mean just sit around and do nothing? But that's bor-"

_We'd be much obliged._

"Hey," whined Aero. It was looking to him as if, between them, things were going to be the wolf's way.

"Alright then, it's settled. It doesn't look like either of you really need any maintenance either, right?"

"_I can last the day,"_ informed Zero. _"Besides, armor changes pretty much renew me."_

"In that case, you'll take care. Now, I don't know about you, Aero, but I need to go get a bite somewhere." The preteen immediately grew ecstatic. Food was something he had been thinking about as well.

"I'm coming!"

"I knew it. I'll see you guys sometime later. Probably later today." Ven put the schematics back away into one of his pockets and headed back outside, walking slowly so as to wait for his brother to tag along.

"_Just stay clear of Thomas. It seems like trouble happens whenever you're with him."_ The teenager chuckled.

"You know it."

The massive door then began to trudge downwards, covering the two zoids. Liger couldn't stop thinking about the armors, though, and how someone found out how to rebuild them. What else did they also know about him? At the same time, there was nothing he could do about it right now. He would just have to look at the bright side of things.

* * *

It was already a new day, one full of anticipation for Liger's pilot and himself. He was sure more flashbacks were going to hit him once he donned these armors, but putting up with them shouldn't be much of a challenge. The real challenge would be to see if he could handle them well again. It was decades ago that he last wore them, so would they feel any different, especially after having not done much at all except lay around?

Ven was looking at the map Ken handed to him the day before. The gates were straight in front of him, being right where they were highlighted on the map. As soon as they were fifteen feet away from them, the scanners stared at them. The small cameras ran up and down the black and white zoid to identify who was entering.

"VEN NIGHT AND LIGER ZERO. ENTRANCE GRANTED," confirmed a monotone female voice. The gates opened horizontally, displaying the tons of busy men and women that were hard at work tidying up the place. The redesigning of the armors had apparently caused quite a mess around the area a few times. However, upon looking downwards, they could see Ken's figure standing straight in front of them.

"It's great that you could make it," the spy complimented.

"As if getting here was hard."

Ken turned around and announced, "Everybody, clear a path! The Liger Zero is coming in!"

The area soon became devoid of nearly everybody until the three of them were the only ones remaining.

"_Impressive that they all listen to him,"_ Zero highlighted.

"He probably runs the place," Ven mentioned. "Alright, Ken, wherever you go."

The long-haired researcher put his hand behind him and threw it forward to tell the pilot to follow him. After moving through the sealed-region, it became evident that this place was HUGE. It was much bigger than the map implied. If he were to make a guess, the teenager would assume that nearly an eighth of Remma was built around here.

"So what have you thought about working with the Commision?" Ken asked. It was hardly a question that Ven was expecting at this busy moment, but by now, when thinking about how long he's been doing what he's been doing lately, it was almost a given.

"It's different from anything else. It's also the last thing I ever expected to do."

"It's the same story with me. Every now and then, it's like a hellhole that you can just never get out of."

"I've gathered that much," the teenager groaned. His relationships with certain other Commission employees came to mind.

"But generally speaking, it all gets better. Much more manageable, too, I might add."

"I can see that, given the work you've been able to do while working with these people."

Ven stared straight in front of him, spotting a huge, hundred-foot tall dome-shaped building that had a completely exposed interior when looking from the side he could view from. Through it, he could see a pathway that led to an elevator platform that would rise up for launching a zoid onto the testing zone. However, what really caught his eyes was the circular rotators on each side, each one containing six slots. He could only guess what they were housing.

"Just keep on moving forward," Ken ordered, stepping out of the Liger Zero's way. "Stop when you are inside that structure between the two armor docking bays you see on each side. You will be filled in from there through Rachel."

"Gotcha."

As the zoid stepped forward, Ken looked at it with great desire in his eyes.

'Looking good,' the spy thought. 'Too good.'

* * *

The news kept playing in his head over and over again. 'I am moving her up to the Top Commander position, I am moving her up to the Top Commander position, I am moving her up to the Top Commander position'…

The passing hours were enough to tell the knocked-down commander that laying down for so long without really sleeping would become boring and be tasteless. The blue-haired man pushed himself back up and placed himself in his wheelchair again. It would at least be time to take a minor stroll, just to get himself some food and to talk to people about the news. By this time, they most likely have heard about it. In fact, he found it surprising that no one had come in to say something about it. Perhaps they figured he just needed some time alone.

Moving back out, Ragnarok found his way to the nearly devoid lobby. There were only three or so people there, none of which happened to immediately notice his presence.

'There must be a lot of patients here. I guess my case just temporarily took everybody's attention.'

He strolled around so he could get into some of their cubicles. The people who were left were hard at work sorting out papers and filing information about the last patients that had been tended to. Unfortunately for them, they may be interrupted for a few minutes.

Ragnarok found a black man typing away as fast as he could on his own computer. The commander entered his space and signaled he had come in.

"Are you busy right now?"

The question startled the doctor as he lightly jumped in his seat. The voice he heard, however, made him regain his posture quickly. Anyone else would have had him cursing at them.

"Mildly," he responded. "And your condition really has not simplified things at all."

"No surprise there." The commander stared gloomily at the ground as if to say that he would be the cause of a lot of future troubles around the place. "Nothing really has been simplified, lately. Too many wrongs have occurred."

"You're telling me about it. But from the way things seem to me, it isn't all your fault."

The doctor swiveled his chair around to look at the injured man beside him. He removed his glasses to rub them off, as they had become filthy over the past couple of days.

"Honestly, I really don't know whose fault it is," he continued. "The Count has made us all work harder than usual, but these are critical times."

"And I've been taking the brunt of them, this being me at my worst. It's the last damn thing that I thought would ever happen."

"As a doctor, all I can say is to not let it get to you so much."

"Yeah. I've heard that a lot in my life."

Ragnarok kicked back in his wheelchair and lightly breathed. There were still long days to come, especially since he was still in a position of power. Different tasks, less work, less stress, and less required dependability on him. When thinking about it that way, he figured that what he heard on the news should have served as a breath of fresh air. Instead, however, upon thinking about it more, it brought back memories.

"By the way," the commander mumbled, bringing his head slightly back up, "what brought any of you into doing this? And I don't just mean financial crap, I mean what's your story?"

The dark-skinned man didn't respond.

"That sounds like an interesting tale."

"It may be."

Just then, the doctor reached his hand beside his computer monitor and took hold of a photograph that stood in its own gold frame. It showed him, a black woman, and what Ragnarok assumed were his three young toddlers: two daughters and one son.

"You see, zoid-battling was at its prime in terms of commercial revenue when this picture was taken. That was six years ago. At the same time, the industry I was in, or the medical business, was taking a severe hit in cash flow. As a result, none of the loans I was involved in got paid off. My wife was suffering from the economic downturn the industry she worked in was taking as well. Then from there, she and I got to the point where we were constantly arguing about possibly staying unemployed and how we were going to raise our kids. Complications kept on rising up between us, and before either of us knew it, we had to let other families, who had zoid pilots, adopt them. They just simply could not live with us anymore. But me and my wife still held emotional tensions about our finances, so we got a divorce a few years later."

Upon looking at the doctor's face, Ragnarok could tell that he still couldn't get her and the rest of his family out of his mind. The doctor's eyes started to become more misty-looking as he wiped them.

"Then you heard about us, and our cause," Ragnarok sympathized.

"Indeed. I then heard of the ties that you all have to legendary zoids and zoid pilots, so I figured that by working here, I'd be able to dig myself out, and maybe be able to repair my past. Up to this point, everything has been looking good for me, and supposedly as well for everyone else around here."

The injured commander took in the whole story that was shared to him. This man seemed different from the rest, because his reason for joining was not out of anger towards anyone. He just wanted a high-paying job in the field he appreciated. Heck, he was currently way different from the de-promoted commander himself. His own reasons…were really shady to him…

Now that he was a 'lesser man' and had some extra time on him, Ragnarok thought about his reason for joining the Backdraft Group, for backstabbing someone and leaving the Commission. After all this time, he had almost forgotten about why he was here in the first place, and it really pained him to recall so much. The first thing that came to his mind was a gorgeous blonde woman… Yes, he had cared so much for her. She, in and of herself, was lovely. But thinking about her, he knew she was now long gone, deeply stuffed away in his past, and it was all thanks to himself having made too many errors. He just did this in the hopes of being able to fix his economically-destroyed image she had held of him before they split paths.

In fact, thinking about it, his own story wasn't much different.

"And now your worlds are looking to plummet again," the commander reminded, "unless I or Velvet can fix things up somehow. The Commission's got hostages that I'm sure they're milking, along with the two most powerful forces out there right now. Wait a second…"

Then he remembered a past conversation he had with The Count when he first brought the Konig Wolf to their base. They briefly talked about there being another Ultimate X zoid before the Backdraft Group was put down a century ago. The thing that kept ringing in his mind was, 'What if The Count's belief is wrong? What if the zoid, the Berzerk Fuhrer, is still out there?'. The doctor noticed his pause and couldn't tell what was on his mind.

"You have an idea?" he queried. The whole organization could probably use one right now.

"It's starting to look like so. The problem is that I would need support from a large fraction of everyone here, but with the way I was spoken of just recently, that might be too difficult to gain."

"Do not forget that you are still a leader. You're now a piece of controversy and gossip around here, so whatever you say publicly will be heard."

"I know that. 'Thing is, look at me. What morale does this convey?"

"You can only work with what you got."

"That's what I mean. What do I got? A shitload of bad press flowing in that will turn everything I say over and upside-down. That's what."

The stressed leader put his elbow on the doctor's desk along with his hand on his face. He knew that there must be a solution to all of this – he just didn't know how to go about it.

"Give me some time and I'll figure it all out," Ragnarok informed the black man. "I'm usually pretty good at these things."

"Hey, don't tell me," the doctor said, backing up in his seat with his hands raised. "I'm not the one who needs to hear it since it doesn't pertain to my job."

"Honestly, if this goes well, it just may. It would involve tons of pilots doing what I've trained them to do." Now the doc was starting to not like the sound of things.

"Okay, maybe for your current position, this is too large-scale."

"Oh, shutup. I think I'm the only one here in this damn base who really has anything in his or her fucking mind."

That kind of response forced the other man to stay quiet. Even though he was brought down a level, there was no stopping the Backdraft Group's most feared man from pursuing what he wanted. Ragnarok was not done talking, though.

"Actually," he began, clearing his face of his hand, "expect to see me on TV tomorrow." Then he sat up and pointed an index finger at the doctor. "Channel four."

The commander backed out of the cubicle, having said what he wanted to say. He had officially decided that regardless of what the residents outside thought of him, he was going to put himself back out into the public.

Meanwhile, the doctor was still surprised. Everyone had known the commander for making swift changes, but getting personally used to it was a different thing.

* * *

Liger Zero walked gradually into the armor maintenance building to stand in between the two sets of rotating slots. As he stopped, A video relay displaying Rachel, along with Zanzer and Ken in the background, popped up on his screen.

"Hey there, Ven," Rachel loudly greeted.

"Hey, what's up?" The teenager continued. Some positive attitude was going to be needed in case things didn't work out too well.

"I've just got me, Zanzer, and Ken in here to gather data based on your performances. New armors for zoids still aren't something we have really tried much in the past, so I apologize if things seem a little bit shaky."

"I'm kind of expecting things to be like that, honestly."

"There shouldn't be too many surprises, then." Zanzer figured he'd add his own bit of reassurance as well.

"You've been involved in the real thing before. Testing won't be much compared to that," the head national guard mentioned. Ven just groaned in slight irritation. He liked that they were now on the same side, but he didn't have to hear everything.

"Aye, aye, aye, I get it. Jeez, you two, I'm not in elementary. I'm only a couple of months away from turning seventeen."

"_You've got people that support you, Kid. Appreciate them."_

"Sounds like the Liger Zero is ready," Rachel joked.

"He is. He always is."

"Then let's get started. We'll begin with the Jager armor. First, start by pulling your trigger controls. Since you're not in combat mode, your vents and claws will not activate, so don't worry."

Ven did as he was told and pulled back. Then he watched as the slots currently beside him opened up, revealing pairs of mechanical hands that reached out to grab all the bits and pieces of Liger's current armor. The feline was quickly detached from all of its white-colored parts before the hands reached back inwards. The slot closed, and the rotators began to move.

"The monitor in your cockpit should display and run through a selection of armor choices," the lieutenant kept rambling. "Once the Jager shows up, push your triggers back in."

The teenager again followed her orders. As soon as 'Jager' was highlighted, he pushed the controls inside again and watched as the rotators moved. They stopped on the next set to allow more hands to reach out, this time holding the fragments of a blue armor. The most standout features being placed on Zero were the Large Ion Boosters and the Side Thrusters, Both of which were obviously meant to induce an enormous surge in speed.

"The armor change is complete," Ven stated.

"Great! Just move forward onto the platform and I will tell you what to do from there."

Liger Zero could feel the essence of the Jager armor all over him. It was another nostalgic feeling that was surging all throughout him. Despite it being slightly heavier than his normal parts, it still felt great to wear once again. The thing is, it only helped to remind him of whom he shared the memories of this armor with…

The zoid shook himself out of his depressed state of mind and moved forward like Ven forced him to. The walking displayed how he'd have to get used to the armors all over again. You can't go years without doing something and expect to be solid at it when you get back to it. However, getting readjusted to the new weight would prove to be not all that difficult.

"You doing okay, Buddy?" the pilot whispered to his zoid. The slight wobbliness didn't go unnoticed.

"_Yeah, I'm fine. I just haven't done this in a while. I'll be more balanced when we get out there, if the testing is gonna be how I think it'll be."_

All four of the now blue and black zoid's paws were currently touching the stable elevator platform. Rachel began to speak again.

"At this point, just hold steady. There will be electromagnetism holding the Liger Zero to the surface that you're on. It will raise up, and when you are ready to launch, give us the word. You got it?"

"Yes ma'am." The teenager nodded. Then he gulped.

"In that case, the testing phase is about to begin. Just do a test run around the simulated track while utilizing your boosters and thrusters. We want to get an idea of how well those function. Afterwards, look at your radar to find the rendezvous point."

Ven raised his head up and down again to acknowledge that he heard her. Then her image disappeared, leaving the pilot and the zoid with a blank view of the black metallic wall in front of them. A few seconds later, the floor beneath them bumped and then rose upwards.

'Here we go. New problems and cool shit commencing in one minute,' was what the teenager kept tackling in his thoughts. The platform climbed up seventy feet before stopping, with a large neon-blue virtual room visible down the long hallway. The display of the track itself quickly booted up, and Liger Zero was staring down the air above an empty lane.

"_Hold on, you haven't even had the chance of learning how to control me while I'm like this."_

"There's no time limit here. I can go as slow or fast as I want. Besides, the whole area is virtual. If we hit anything, we'll bounce right off of it."

"_If that's true, then don't start having fun all of a sudden."_

Ven giggled.

"_Ven… I mean it."_

"Oh, don't be so boring. I'd be kicked out of this and questioned if I did, anyway."

"_Thank Eve."_

The pilot focused his senses on the track in front of him. There was no more fooling around for now. He was going to have to learn to make the most of the Jager armor quickly if he wanted it to be useful to him. No one ever knew when the Backdraft Group was going to strike next.

He was comfortable now and gave the word.

"I'm ready to launch!"

In the next instant, the duo felt themselves being propelled forward down the small runway. Right before they reached the edge, Liger Zero jumped off, allowing his armor to shine under the simulated blue sky's sunlight. His paws hit the rocky surface a moment later and he was off.

Ven pushed down on his steers to kick the side thrusters into action. The additional speed shocked him at first, because everything he was experiencing was still unlike anything he had ever seen before.

"This is crazy," the teenager yelled as they kept rocketing down the lane. The turning corner was still a ways down but was still becoming increasingly visible.

"_I know. I was never able to get used to it. Steering me shouldn't be much different from before."_

Ven tried to go even faster. He slowed himself down a bit once the left turn he had to make came. Making the twist was easy, just like the zoid had said. But now it was time for him to crank things up a bit so that he could really get a good feel for things. The silver-haired pilot turned Zero's triggers and pulled them out, just like he would if he were preparing to perform a Strike Lazer Claw attack. After he finished the maneuver, the Large Ion Boosters mounted on the feline's back sprung to life, flaring as far outwards as they could.

"_I think you're getting too cocky now, Ven,"_ Liger Zero complained.

"Not even! We have to see how well these function anyway!"

"_I know. I just don't think you're prepared for-"_

The blue-covered zoid's growl got cut off as it began to travel at a speed so fast that it became nearly invisible. The teenager was now starting to see how his companion saw things.

"GODAAAAAMMMMNNNNNIIIIIIIT! I WASN'T QUITE EXPECTING THIIIIIIISSSSSSS!"

He sure didn't look like he did, either. His face was scrunched up with the back of his head thrown against his seat. He opened his eyes to see the next turn coming up. At his current speed, completing it would be impossible, so he pushed the triggers back in and flipped them back to their original positions.

Only something had gone wrong – Zero kept going at the same speed.

"_Ven? What are you thinking? VEN!"_

"IT'S NOT ! I CAN'T STOOOOOOPPPPPPP!"

"_What? Shit, here we go…"_

As if on cue, the zoid pounded straight into the testing room's invisible wall. As a response, the wall emitted an electrical surge that threw both of them backwards, but the boosters still kept pushing. Liger Zero was sent flying upwards and hit the 'roof', which also rejected him and pushed him away. This process repeated itself over and over again, and all the feline could do was just roar in protest while they were being thrown about throughout the entire track. In the middle of their tossing, the simulation disappeared, effectively ending the test run.

Rachel's face appeared again and was surprised by the sight that greeted her: a teenage boy with his hair all over the place and his clothing all wrinkled up. Some bruises were also visible on his face.

"Ven, are you okay?" the woman cried. She knew something could potentially go wrong, but she didn't think things would get this out-of-hand.

"I'M LAAASSSSTIIIINNNGGGG!" They hit the wall again and went flying again.

"Ven, just hit the grey button on your left side beneath the window! That'll eject the armor!"

The messed up pilot reached opened one of his eyes to attempt to search for it. His left hand desperately hunted for it but could not find it. He could have sworn that this was just gonna go on for forever and ever. Then, eventually, he felt a small bump and pushed it. From there, he could tell that they were beginning to slow down.

The next time they were thrown away, Liger Zero crashed onto the floor, looking like a complete heap. His underbody was completely exposed since the armor had been ejected. Luckily, the only damage that had been done was a few scratch marks that took away some of his paint. Meanwhile, the boosters from the Jager armor were still seemingly everywhere in the air, before the impacts they themselves were taking eventually short-circuited them.

Ven released his hands from the controls and kept breathing hard. He was almost sure he was going to die there.

"I'll ask again, are you okay?" Rachel demanded. It took him a while to articulate a response given the mental state he was caught in.

"Yeah… Maybe… Aw, shit, I don't know right now."

"Can the Liger Zero still get back up?"

"He should be able to."

Zero tried to right himself back on his paws, taking his time. He, too, was in his own shocked mindset.

"_That thing needs a…lotta work,"_ the feline snarled. Repositioning himself came with ease. Looking at the pieces of the Jager, though, he wondered about the flaws the other armors would have. That scared him, especially when he thought about what the Panzer may present. That thing was bad enough when it functioned as it should, so what else could it do to him? Finding out was not a pleasuring idea.

Rachel looked relieved when she saw movement was occurring. Zanzer did as well, knowing that Liger Zero was their most valuable zoid. Ken just looked like he thought what happened was irrelevant.

"Things are looking good, I guess. Just head to the exit now, and we'll tell you about the results. As you guessed, they're not the best."

"I know they're not. I'm feeling them right now." The lieutenant frowned.

"Are you sure you can even make it to the exit?"

"I'll get there." Ven cut the transmission signal off since he didn't want to hear her sympathy right now. Instead, he made Liger Zero trudge towards the blinking spot on the radar.

* * *

"So what happened back there?" Rachel asked. "Everything was stable until the input for the armor's controls shut off."

Ven was given an open couch for him to sit in. He needed some good relaxation after what he just came from. Ken, Zanzer, and Rachel were all looking at Ven from in their own seats.

"That's what happened: the controls stopped working," the stressed teenager replied. "I thought it would be safe to make the speed jump since everything else was fine."

"Looks like you may have gotten too ahead of yourself, or we just need to redesign the simulation. I think putting such a high-speed zoid on a layout such as that might not be the best of testing conditions," the head guard added.

"Maybe not," the lieutenant said. She turned to look at the statistics, all of which indicated that Liger Zero's boosters had gone way beyond control. "No one's likely to do battle in an area like that, anyway. I just thought it would be good to test out the zoid's sprinting abilities and its agility."

"Perhaps we should try a completely wide-open setting next time," Ken suggested.

"That's probably the better idea, since it would allow room for error."

The still mentally-devastated pilot thought about what was being discussed. 'Oh Eve, next time? What is _that _gonna be like?' So he had to ask.

"Am I going to be testing again soon?" Ven demanded. If he was going to go through hell again, he wanted to know ahead of time and when.

"That's up to you," Zanzer responded. "We've still got the other armors to examine. Trying them out now might be more convenient, just so we could get through with it." Rachel saw things differently, however.

"No, we'll stick to the Jager for now. He should master the usage of one armor as quickly as possible. If he doesn't, then he'd be sticking to using Liger Zero's base armor for probably quite a long while." The blonde was beginning to notice how the woman had a habit of disagreeing with him, or not even acknowledging what he was saying.

"Can my idea be the right one for once?" he complained.

"Nope." She looked back at him and smiled one of her 'happy happy' expressions. Zanzer just felt a sweat drop roll down his head.

"I figured as much."

"Mhm." Then she steered her attention back to Ven. "Just tell us when you think you're ready to begin again. We don't wanna push you too much."

"Hmph," Ken grunted. The spy certainly didn't sound pleased. His arms were crossed and his eyelids were shut.

"Is there something wrong?" the lieutenant asked. Now that she thought about it, he had been rather quiet for the day, and unlike most of the guys she had met in the past, he was a tough one to understand.

"Oh no. I am just like Mr. Zanzer here, in that I am disappointed that we can't yet see what can be accomplished with the Schneider and the Panzer."

"Yeah, I suppose I can imagine, since you're the one who researched them." Rachel kicked back a little with her arms behind her head.

"Not just that, but I think going through them quickly would be beneficial in its own way. You see, we would develop a perspective of their effectiveness and from there be able to articulate how we could use all the armors against the Backdraft Group."

Even Zanzer was shocked. Usually when somebody agreed with him, they just nodded their head. No one normally went beyond his reasoning.

"Maybe. None of them would be useful real quick, though."

"Yes, but let's face it," Ken directed, "they just had one of their greatest elites lose a battle against us. They are in some way right now experiencing imbalance. There is no rush for us at the time."

Rachel was going over how new she was to his type of personality. She thought Malcolm was a deep thinker, especially when given his tasking job of being the president of Zi. Despite that, she was typically able to argue against him and be right most of the time, but this long-haired man was driving her crazy. However, she couldn't protest against what he had mentioned since he was right.

"Hmmmmmm… You're right, then. We still have to check in with how our pilot feels about it," she referenced to Ven.

"I'll take a look at my zoid and let you guys know later, if that's fine."

"Whatever." Rachel spun around in her chair. The woman was still clearly annoyed. "Just make sure to get back to us about it soon." The teenager recognized her foul mood and decided to 'play' with it.

"Are you really going to doubt me, Rachel?" he joked. Too bad that he thought she was going to take it lightly. Nope, she just stopped moving.

"Yes, I _will._ Get to it." (Ven sweatdrops)

"Jeez, okay." Not wanting to further her attitude, he said goodbye to Zanzer and Ken before his took his leave for good. That just left the head security guard with having to figure out how he was going to cope with the strange spy and the temper-inflicted lieutenant. He didn't like it.

"So what's up?" he threw out there just for the sake of it.

* * *

The commander was wondering if he had gone crazy. Everyone in the Backdraft Group knew of his latest failure, there was no doubt about that. They would scorn him the minute his voice would be heard again so soon. Still, he had a reason for putting himself out there again. He could care less if he had crushed their hopes, because the past was past. He still held onto a position of authority, and he was going to make the most of it.

The Radio Center was right behind the Medical Center. Through it, Ragnarok would be able to get in touch with a news reporter and be able to make a televised speech. Not long after he arrived there, he was able to get directed to one. He found her as she was about to head outside. She was a tall brunette woman with one of the most gorgeous bodies he had seen recently, and it was covered up by a yellow jacket since the weather was showing signs of a possible downpour.

The injured commander was the last person the reporter was expecting to meet. She had never actually had the chance to meet him in person before, making his presence all the more nerve-racking. To make things more complicated, she couldn't show what was going through her mind in front of him, so she put on a fake delightful attitude.

"Why hello," she greeted, smiling at him. Both of them reached out their hands for a handshake.

"Hey," he said back. The commander still couldn't help but admire how beautiful she was. "I don't believe we've met before."

"Neither do I, but I certainly have heard of you."

"I know. I think everyone has, really." He meant that as both a fact and as a reference to what was currently going around. The reporter picked up on that much.

"I do know that you've been discussed a lot."

"Yup. That's actually why I'm here right now. I just need to know if I'm taking up any of your important time."

"Well what are you here for?"

"I need to make a broadcasted speech. I'm assuming you have a camera person around, correct?" That caught her off-guard. She really was not expecting to handle her work this instant, so it got on her nerves a little.

'A speech? Why?' she pondered.

"Yes, I do. He should be here any minute. But I think a speech may end up taking too long."

"Don't worry about it. Your boss will understand when they see who the speech is delivered by. It should even earn you a temporary raise."

Just then, a man in a white polo shirt and blue denim jeans entered in through a back door with a camera and a tripod in his arms. He stopped when he saw the two of them. It was the sight of Ragnarok that really caught him, because he shared the same feelings towards him that most everyone else around had as well. The reporter saw the cameraman and ordered him with her hand to come over.

"Will it?"

"It will. If your boss has a problem with this, refer them to me and I will talk to them and convince them."

The brunette thought about it for a few seconds before she gave in. Despite the sudden nature of it all, something about this just felt right. She just hoped it would all see her through.

"Then I really hope you mean it. Set up the camera and the tripod," she ordered to the cameraman again. The cameraman was very curious about where this was all going, so he didn't hesitate to get the camera ready. It was ready in just about a minute, and the yellow-jacketed reporter put her hands in front of her and put on a beautiful smile.

"Greetings," she began. "This is BDGN reporting to you live. I am Angela Ross, and today I have a very special guest with me standing right beside me. You all know him, and he has something very special to deliver to all of us. His name is Ragnarok Obscura. Please welcome one of the Backdraft Group's commanders!"

The blue-haired leader kept thinking about his plan. He just prayed that the people would listen to him and hear everything he has to say. Because if he could muster up the assistance that he needed, the Backdraft Group would be able to strike back as hard as it possibly could.

The camera was now on him.

"Greetings, to everyone who is staring at their TV sets watching this. I know what has been done and that you are all asking yourselves 'what can he do now?'. That is why I am here right now: to answer that question. We have had a lot of shortcomings lately, me being a part of all of those. However, to those of you who are thinking that all is lost, I ask you to ask yourself another question. That question is, 'The Liger Zero is with the Commission, but where is the other famed Ultimate X that sought battle with it so long ago?'. I am requesting you to think about this because it may be the very thing that could guide us to our inevitable victory. If this can be responded to positively, then our cause will be highlighted across all of Planet Zi. We will be ten times what we have ever been! But I cannot find the response alone. I may not hold much in the power of the highest position I could attain, but I can lead anyone who chooses to follow me with this. And that is the other reason I am here: to say that I know I have done wrong, but I will not allow that to stop me. I am a member of the Backdraft Group, and that is something I will hold on to for as long as I either sit or stand on this ground. So to those who are nodding their heads, of which I am sure there are many, come out and show what you value! That is all I have to say."

Both the reporter and the cameraman were amazed. If they weren't supporters of him before, they surely were now. The brunette would have said something about his speech, but she had to go on and continue the broadcast.

"Thank you, Mr. Obscura, for your time. Now, we also have…"

Whatever she said was cut off as she went outside, with her cameraman following her. Ragnarok just stayed where he was, thinking about what he had just finished saying. If things didn't work out for him now, they never would again.


	18. Rising Storm

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters (excluding Aero and Midnight) and any original characters (if I make any).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**Rising Storm**

"_You are crazy,"_ Liger cried. The annoyed zoid was brought back outside the armory, where Ven met Aero as the smaller kid walked up to him. The cheer and delight in the younger brother's face was enough to make the pilot's day brighter, but Zero would insist on making the regular protest.

"Do not look at me about this. The others were somewhat pushing me to bring this up to you."

"_Even the hardest-working of all of you lack a lot of decency. They do know what happened, don't they?"_

"Yeah, but their job is all they're concerned about right now. Hey, before you dismiss this, just think about all of the benefits."

"_Really? You're asking me to dwell on what could be? I've donned these armors before, do not forget."_

"I know that. It's just that the Backdraft has been beaten down by us two pretty heavily, so I can imagine that push is coming to shove."

"_I know… Grrrrrrr…"_

"I don't like this at all either, buddy. I was really starting to doubt that I would make it out of that simulation alive."

Aero just kept exchanging his glances between the two of them. Was it really possible that something could have gone wrong with them? Of course, bad things had happened before, but they usually made it out. However, by the sound of his older brother's tone of voice, it was coming off as if they had failed somewhere. No, they couldn't have!

"What happened?" Aero asked.

"We just tested one of our armors," Ven reluctantly replied. "It was the one that makes Liger sprint at super speed. We had some turbulence with it."

"_How many times do you have to understate things…?"_

"That can't be good," Aero sympathized. "It's not broken, is it?" As much as the idea of testing the armor again did not enthuse Ven, what the preteen suggested disturbed him even more.

"Hopefully that's not for lack-of-a-better-word."

"What about the other armors?"

"We haven't tried those yet."

"Why?"

The teenager knew where this was gonna go. After his last experience in a roughhouse, he didn't want to be tested. Instead, he just stared his younger brother down.

"Aero, I suggest that you just go inside," Ven relayed. The pilot pointed at the armor-changing facility, the same building which housed the testing room. "You can meet Rachel and everybody else in there, where you can watch a replay of what we just did and see whatever else we do."

"But you haven't answered my question," the kid cried.

"It's of no concern right now."

"But why?"

"Go!"

Aero slowly distanced himself from the perturbed teen. The preteen's facial expression conveyed that we he heard must have left him mentally stoned, but he had been through this with his brother before, so he just took in the normality of the pilot's words.

"Anybody who sees you will guide you up there," the older pilot informed, then continued to push his younger brother away with his stare.

"Okay!"

Then the streaked hair walked away. Then it ran.

"_He's just younger than you, Ven."_

"No, really?"

Ven moved to look back at Liger Zero.

"So back to making up our minds…"

While the siblings were bantering, Zero had at the same time been pondering about further testing that day…

"_I guess we should just go for it now. At least, only the Schneider for today. I'm not too worn out to not be able to handle that. The Panzer would destroy me, though."_

And there, Ven wanted to mope. He knew he had to bring this topic up to Liger Zero, but he also wanted the zoid to decline. He was tired enough in his current state, so who knew if his controlling was going to suffer. However, the feline had more experience with these sorts of things, so he felt comfortable trusting in his partner's side on this.

"I better not get destroyed, either."

"_Just put your faith in me like you always do,"_ Zero joked and emphasized. In spite of his own constant complaining, he had to add his own lightheartedness.

"Already done," Ven said, looking up at the zoid and 'smiling'.

* * *

**Liger Zero's POV**

And things have gotten possibly a lot better for me. I've actually received my true fighting powers back! At this point, not much may be able to really stand in my way, or our way. Dammit, I'm still trying to decide how deep my trust is in some of these individuals. But this does not mean my own world is settling down.

While I look down at my pilot, I still can not yet fathom how somebody managed to find instructions detailing how my armors should be built. I've been swimming around in this whole new sea, and that's the fishiest thing I've heard yet. There's so much more about me that someone out there must know, and I have no idea who they are, or what they are doing with that information.

And to top things off, and I hate to say this, but once I put the Jager back on again, whatever I sensed in Ven became stronger. It seems like the more associated he becomes with the 'me' that I used to be, something within him changes. He seems to be handling things with more maturity from now on, and that's great. It's just that I can't find it to be coincidental. But now I'm about to try out the Schneider, and of the three armors, that one places second in the number of fond memories that I have with it. Man, slicing and dicing with it so many years ago was one of _the_ things I loved to do. I'm just wondering if this will further anything regarding me and Ven…

And come to think of it, whoever it was specifically that obtained the data plans for all of my armors must be somebody that I should be extremely suspicious of. They may hold ties to the reasons for why I am of such a huge service in this day and age.

* * *

The testing room still only held the same occupants as before. Rachel and Zanzer kept juggling between talking about testing the new zoid parts and discussing casual things between them. The security guard's words were enough to calm the irritated lieutenant down to a degree, but she still searched for ideas that would let her have things her way. However, everything she said to him turned out to be of no avail.

"I really think that running through all three of these armors could be dangerous at the same time," the woman complained.

"And why is that?" the blonde asked.

"Cause his handling of the next two will also be poor. And for Malcolm's corrupted sake of having him work for the Commission, he hasn't lived long enough to contribute enough."

"Rachel, just stop being foul." Zanzer stood up and kneeled down beside his stressed colleague. She clearly hadn't received any sort of comfort in the past few days...and perhaps she could use some. "Any pilot who battles Ragnarok and manages to _win _against him, of all things, has an idea of their limits. If he goes through with this, he knows what he's doing."

"Yeah right. He can be clueless, too. Not anywhere near as much as Thomas, but enough to get caught up in things."

"But in the end, he manages to get out of them."

"Then he's back in another one," she moped. "I really don't like the life we're making this youngster, the one I helped raise, live."

Zanzer didn't know what else to say there. He could only feel the same way as her, given that Ven, lately, had been having things rougher than all of them. The teenager was still looking to have some lengthy paths ahead of him, too, and he probably would continue to until the Backdraft Group was defeated. At least, he was sure that that's what would happen given their recent flow of victories. Still, these thoughts would not deter him, or so not right when Rachel was becoming a bit more content…

"By the way, you can stop now, Zanz. It isn't working."

The man grabbed a hold of his personality before he made any sort of movement. It became clear through his face that he tried to tighten up his stature to avoid looking humiliated.

"What are you talking about?" he lied.

"Whatever you were going to try to talk about, that's what."

The two of them kept their comical chatter going, but they failed to let Ken in on their conversation. It wasn't a problem for him as he didn't mind. Instead, he thought about the Liger Zero, among other things.

'Liger Zero, check,' the spy listed in his mind, 'The Konig Wolf, check. Ragnarok's defeat, check. The three armors, check. Now things just need to keep moving along. Come to think of it, that reminds me: I should probably take my leave at this point.'

Ken used his arms to push his tired weight off of his chair to exit the room.

"I am sorry," he announced to the couple, grasping their attention with their eyes staring straight at him, "but I have other matters that I have just been notified of that I must attend to."

"Didn't you say you were going to stick around, regardless of anything else?" the brunette wondered.

"I did, in fact. But this is a notification I am receiving from my operational group, so it is of utmost importance to me that I keep the Commission's top spy session comforted."

Zanzer and Rachel looked on confusingly, almost blinking. They had not even a simple idea of what he was talking about.

"I suppose it is fine, then," Zanzer trustingly acknowledged. The long-haired man had never let him down before, so why would he now?

"That is good. In that case, I hope to be back in due time."

Ken trudged towards the same exit Ven took and left the lieutenant and the head security guard feeling even more awkward. His image disappeared into the shadows and kept on moving so that no one would be able to find him.

Not even Aero, as the spy saw him coming through an opening door, noticed him. The kid passed him by without even noticing, which caused the silver-haired man to grin. To him, it just went to show that everything was happening the way he wanted it.

Aero entered into the testing room after finally having found his way. The people who worked there were able to provide him with all the directions to get there that he needed. They were all surprised, however, when they saw that he wasn't with his brother, but none of them questioned him. It was made clear by his sweating that he wasn't going to stick around and listen to anything else that came out of their mouths.

The sight of Zanzer's and Rachel's twisted looks was the first thing to greet the preteen, upon his entrance. It bothered him, because, just like his sibling, he didn't know what was on their minds.

"Are you guys…here?" the young pilot peeped. Their attention snapped to him.

"We are," Rachel responded in a sudden manner. She and her personal comrade were still clinging on to their thoughts regarding Ken.

"He never told me that he had his own employees," the blonde guard worried.

"He never told me anything either, but I haven't known him for as long as you have. It's just that knowing there's a whole bunch more out there possibly a lot like him, oi…" The idea made the lieutenant shake her head rapidly in disgust. It was strange enough for her to be around just one person like Ken.

While they complained, Aero still looked at each of them unknowingly. He had thought his question would spark either one of them to explain what was going on. No response happened; hey just acted like they didn't even notice him to begin with, but then he got a good look a Zanzer and realized that maybe he didn't want them to pay so much attention to him. His last run-in with the blonde was not the fondest memory he held on to. Then his luck ran out right when the man looked around and spotted him. The green eyes looked to be stone cold for a second. However, Rachel would break the awkward situation after she, too, noticed the kid.

"How come you're here?" she demanded. Unexpected guests were not generally tolerated with well. Aero almost didn't even know how to respond to the commanding woman.

"Ven…told me come in here and stay here."

"So he invited you?"

"Ummm… Sort of."

"Grrrr… 'sort of'. I thought he knew to be quick and precise with his decision; not to send someone else up here and then to take his own time."

The harsh statement collided with the kid's ego and for some time made him contemplate if he was even wanted in the room. Rachel, luckily, detected his shock and was quick to put away with it.

"Oh, Sweetie, that was nothing towards you. I've just been in a stressful mood, lately." Then she looked down at Zanzer to see that he was fixated on Aero for some reason. She groaned, and, this time, instead of talking him out of it, whipped up her hand and backhanded him in the face. Any men whom she knew who acted strange needed to have some manners forced on them. "You, on the other hand, need to stay in reality for at least the remainder of the day."

"Sure, boss." The red hand-shaped mark underneath his eye shone vividly under the lighting. The head guard himself couldn't believe it, but he was actually feeling embarrassed now that he was in his current condition in front of one of the city's ex-troublemakers. In addition to that, this was the second time she had publicly done this to him, so it became clear that she was fearless when it came to making a scene. But he still clung his eyes onto Aero. There was enough hot air being blown by the lieutenant, and he didn't want the preteen to be the cause of her spewing out more. "I was just trying to watch out for things."

"You and your being a 'Big Daddy', you don't need that attitude. I know you've got a huge job, but stop acting so high and mighty all the time."

"If you know of a better way for me to go about my business, I'd definitely like to hear it."

"Zanz, I mean that you're not even on-duty right now. Ease up!"

Again, the guard fell silent. Why was it that women always made the right and final call? But as she did so, Aero still didn't know quite what to do. Just like Ven before him, his own relationship with Zanzer was looking to be odd for a while.

"So," Aero muttered, breaking the silence, "is my brother going to try another one of those cool armors?" This just displeased Rachel even more, however.

"You mean he didn't even tell _you _what he was going to do?"

"He just told me not to worry about it." Like Zanzer had predicted, the kid would be the cause of her fuming at any moment, so he instantly got up by her side. Her hands went straight to her forehead.

"Oh Eve, Ven. I really don't know what I'm going to do sometimes."

Then her fortune hit her: The beeping of the monitor to her side caught her attention. There was an incoming video transmission for her to either accept or to reject. She touched the 'accept' button and watched as a projection of Ven inside Liger Zero blew up in front of her. Her dismissive attitude instantly molded itself into delight.

"I'm ready for testing the Schneider unit. The Panzer will have to wait till another day."

"Ok, then. We'll get everything set up in time for you."

The teenager nodded before verbally acknowledging the lieutenant. The projection then completely minimized, and Rachel was firming her seated posture, getting ready to initialize the next armor. Zanzer and Aero just stood back and watched.

* * *

Liger Zero, for the second time that day, felt his standard armor parts being removed while they were replaced with the signature red shine of the Schneider. Like the zoid once thought, memories began to flood back into his mind. He was only now taking in the nostalgia since this was the other armor that carried him through so many victories, and he knew it would carry him through more.

The changing process was pretty much the exact same as before. The only real difference was the side panels that extended out from behind the walls next to the backseat. Ven looked at them in confusion since they were not detailed very well in the armor's specs.

"What are these side panels for?"

"_There's side panels in there? If so, I don't know. They were never really used before."_

"That's weird," Ven scoffed. "'Don't know why they would take the time to construct them, then."

"_That's right, keep questioning them."_

Once the armor change was complete, Liger Zero, in all his bright red and blue glory, walked further down and onto the same rising platform. The feline and the teenager rose upwards again to look down the exact same launch path. The simulation room shaded itself to resemble a forest filled to the brim with bright green-leaved trees and a bright blue and mildly cloudy sky. Ven had been informed prior to the testing by Rachel that his goal this time around was to cut down all or as many of the trees as possible. It didn't seem like too much of a challenge.

"_This is it?"_ Zero had to admit the he was somewhat disappointed. What he saw in front of him looked to be way too easy to run through._ "This is pathetic."_

"Come on Liger, are you really going to judge that quick?" Ven said to the zoid. "I've heard some stories about these simulations. There's probably a lot more to this."

"_I hope so. In fact, I'm dying for that to be true, because this being it is a diss to me."_

"You clearly ain't worn out at all."

"_Because I am about to be tried, and with this on of all things. I can't slack, especially after earlier today."_

"Oh please," the teenager moaned, throwing his palm onto the right side of his face, "Don't remind me of that now. The last thing I need to be is paranoid while I'm inside you."

"_As a pilot, you should just learn to get over that feeling."_

"And don't lecture me, either."

Liger Zero repositioned its paws to get into a more balanced position. Ven gave the signal that he was ready to launch, and before they knew it, they were being propelled forward for the second time. Just like when it wore the Jager, the zoid jumped out at the end of the runway, and to show off, Ven extended its two Laser Blades out. He then followed that up with shots from his Shock Cannon to create a path for him and Zero to sprint down. He would keep on firing to help clear things out.

The red-armored zoid met the digital ragged surface it had created and coasted along on top of it. Each of the two blue side blades were effortlessly cutting down the large foliage, with none of it managing to even slightly slow machine down. They were both determined to have things end the right way during this go-round.

'I'm really liking this armor,' The silver-haired teenager acknowledged in his mind. 'It looks like it'll be really strong in close-range quarters.'

He twisted the controls so that they would maneuver to the right. Besides that, he kept up the same routine, but he was surprised by how easy this was all turning out to be. Perhaps Zero was right in thinking that this would be a letdown.

"Maybe your thoughts were right about this, buddy. This isn't even challenging!"

"_I know that much. But, I highly doubt there's any stopping now."_

Then they could have sworn their thoughts were jinxed. Ven could see in the distance that ENORMOUS Redwoods were stemming upwards towards the 'sky'.

"Yeah, we spoke too soon."

"_Hardly, Kid, cause I know what to do."_

"Really? And you're gonna leave me on edge like that?"

Then the teenager heard a beeping sound emanating from his monitor in front of him. It displayed a diagram of Zero Schneider's exterior and highlighted the blades around its head. He watched as they curved forward and around its head, with the side blades showing themselves performing a similar action as they twisted to pointing directly in front of them. The words 'Buster Slash' then appeared beneath the visual.

"Buster Slash?"

Almost instantly, a blue virtual blade covered above Ven, its own edge facing the same direction as him. Meanwhile, Zero felt the physical changes of all his rushing blades and laser blades moving and aiming in the direction he was going. The pilot was really now starting to love this.

"Okay, then, Buddy, LET'S DO THIS," the teenager yelled, activating both the ion boosters and the energy thrusters while he stopped putting pressure on the Cannons. They headed straight for the large Redwoods, tearing away at everything that got in their way. The targets were gradually becoming closer and closer, until the trees began to tower over them.

"BUSTER SLASH!"

The zoid waited until it was only thirty feet away from one of the trees before it leapt and pierced straight through it. It kept pushing through until, in only a matter of seconds, it came out through the other side. Ven predicted the other standard trees to be there, so he fired the Shock Cannons once his vision cleared. They then continued on as normal.

"Wow, that was amazing," Ven exclaimed as loudly as he could.

"_Just don't get too happy, cause we're still not do-"_

Liger Zero instantly stopped in his tracks. The sudden alteration in speed would have thrown Ven out of his seat and straight into the interior of the hatch if the harness had not been so strongly cemented on top of him. Luckily, his head just veered forward before being smacked against his metal chair. He was sure he had a bruise back there now.

"Ow, dammit." The pilot spent the next ten seconds rubbing where he felt there must have been a new lump. "Liger, what happened?"

No response came. Then he heard a still buzzing noise coming from the monitor, displaying all of the current statistics of the armor, and the infamous 'Command System Over Flow'.

"Really? Is this a stupid joke?" He didn't think anything could go from great to horrible in less than a split-second, but this flipped that belief around completely. His zoid, and his best companion, had effectively blacked out on him, and all he could do about it at the moment was slam his hands on his arm rests. "YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!"

Then an up-close shot of Rachel's face popped up in front of his nose. He could clearly see Zanzer and Aero alongside her, all three of which looked concerned all over again.

"It looks like you're having issues in there again, but more severe ones this time around," the lieutenant informed. Ven bit back at her.

"Noooooooooooo, really?" the teenager demanded sarcastically. "This is more severe than ANYTHING that's ever happened with Liger Zero!"

"I highly doubt that, Ven. You do know that your zoid has an entire history behind it, right?" Now he couldn't believe this question.

"Oh my Eve, Rachel, you DON'T THINK I DO? Now I could really use some help in here!"

The woman laughed. Despite how his attitude could make him cumbersome, she did have to acknowledge that it was somewhat humorous to her that he was growing up. He had that spark in him that made him somewhat rebellious.

"And what's so funny?" the silver-haired pilot asked. The two people beside her were wondering the same question.

"It's nothing," she replied. "We'll get you out of there within the next ten minutes. Just be patient, like how you made me be patient."

"Alright then, but you know how I am." He folded his arms to show that he was caught up in his frustration.

"Most certainly." Her transmission was manually cut off. Ven just sat still, trying to figure out what went wrong. He really wanted to know in due time.

* * *

Outside the medical center, a mass of people was showing signs of forming. Everyone who was there heard Ragnarok's plea, many of which were supporters of his before, and some of which whom had been swayed after some thinking on their own part. The ex-top commander was right in regards to the other Ultimate X: It had to exist somewhere in the world. At least, the pieces of it. Even if it would take them years to find, they still had to try to search. The zoid would by far be the strongest asset they could ever muster up.

Ragnarok sat on his wheelchair on the other side of the entrance doors. He was patiently watching to see if the crowd would grow to impressive numbers. If its growing rate slowed down or stopped for a prolonged period of time, then, and only then would he go out and speak to the people.

The same doctor he had rationalized with about an hour ago came up behind him and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't need any sympathy," the commander mentioned in disapproval. The doctor removed his hand.

"I'm sorry, then, but this is a big deal you are causing out there."

"Then I've certainly accomplished something. Given how things I have been for me lately, I'm quite happy about that."

"I don't doubt that," the doctor stated in a concerned tone. "However, I am also here to inform you that your overseer of the maintenance department would like to get in touch with you after you've finished whatever you've planned for today."

"You mean John?" Ragnarok didn't think that that old man would want to speak to him anymore since he was associated with the havoc done to so many of their zoids. But when he came to think about it, John knew him very well, and so he probably knew what several of his long-term intentions were. The idea of extremely heightened repair business probably did not go over too well with the engineer.

"Yes, him."

"Of course he would." The commander sighed. "He's always there to run me over with his zoid-licking business. I can imagine what he must be making of what I have in store."

"So can I, Sir. He did not sound pleased in the slightest when he called in."

"Well, I can only hope that he will be after I have spoken. I'm sure that The Count will also try to meet with me again really soon, since I am rallying these people without his permission."

"So do you really know what you're actually getting into?"

"Yup: the only thing I can get into." Ragnarok closed his eyes before giving a recommendation to the doctor, "Look, I highly suggest you spread the news in here about what's going on outside, in the odd situation that something goes wrong. Everyone in here always complains when something sudden and bad comes up."

"Then make sure that you yourself don't get riled up. Your condition won't be able to handle anything intense."

"I've handled myself in the face of hundreds. Trust me, no worries are needed."

"As you say, then, Sir," the dark-skinned doctor acknowledged before he left the commander alone. Ragnarok just kept staring out into the open stretch that was becoming occupied as the minutes passed.

The next half hour seemed to fly by, and the crowd's growth rate skyrocketed. There were now at least two thousand Backdraft individuals waiting to hear his voice, all of which also wanted to put their own out there. It was time, now; there were enough ears to take in his words, and enough to spread them. He was now more confident than ever that their future intentions would rhyme with his.

The commander pushed his wheels forward and moved through the door. The simple act of opening it threw a rush of noise at him that all came from all those waiting for him. Once he was all the way outside, the cheers became even louder and reached the skies. Ragnarok took in the glory as he sensually felt that he was still meaningfully wanted around the base. The situation was suddenly starting to look a lot better for him. To compliment it all, one of the other doctors came out from within the medical center to provide him with a microphone. There were speakers pre-built into the exteriors of all the buildings, but the user had to use the miniature monitor on the mic to choose which ones would be active. The injured man programmed it to only send audio signals to the sets within a half-mile radius. Then he spoke.

"Good evening to everybody here today," Ragnarok greeted. The crowd returned his gesture with the Backdraft salute. Then from here one, they all remained quiet. "It is to my deepest pleasure that all of you could make it, to stand for the cause that you wish to represent. Each of you knows what, by following me through with this, you will be after, and what you will perform. Among you, there are experienced pilots, I am sure, and among you, there are also individuals who wish to become equally as experienced. Every one of you who falls under this category will face obstacles that you have likely never been asked to take charge in before, but do not think that you are also being asked to develop fears. Fears are exactly what will deepen our current state, what will destroy us. No, you are being asked to get involved in what may make some of you turn away…"

A few people in the crowd looked as if they were beginning to shudder, to say that the commander was right in his statement. Despite that, each of them kept themselves in place.

"Everybody here remembers the attack we launched on Remma a few months back. That mission failed, but it also served as a lesson to all of us, and it was something that we should have known: we cannot strike big until our enemies are made small. In other words, we have to bring the Commission down to our same level of ground before we can even go to so much as think of attempting to get rid of them completely. However, the odds are obviously not in our favor, regardless of what we do, so each of us has to make an effort to flip that."

Ragnarok took a break from his rambling to catch in a few breaths. While he rested, he could see the excitement dimming and the mental interest within the people growing. He was successfully stimulating the first part of his hopes.

"The question I asked each of you earlier today was a simple one that I shall repeat: The Liger Zero is with the Commission, but where is the other famed Ultimate X that sought battle with it so long ago? In addition to this, I also ask all of you to mull it over some more before you make your own statements. However, do not forget that I cannot find the answer to his by my own. As I said, this is a cause, and all I can do is lead. If my question does manage to be responded to, then the process I detailed by which we finally get our revenge against the Commission will be fulfilled."

The determined commander raised his fist up high, clenching it to display that he was willing to put his heart into meeting the Backdraft's dreams. He was going to be a soldier of the organization, in and out.

"We will raise their outposts, capture their cities, and we will _kill_ President Malcolm! The Liger Zero will be annihilated, and the Konig Wolf will be utterly obliterated, for betraying us!"

"Yeah," everybody in the crowd began to cheer again, but this time even louder. He let the attitude continue for the next minute before he continued.

"Now, before we move on, I need to know if my support shall be strong and stable. We will begin preparing for our next action tomorrow. Anybody who takes my wishes to heart, you must either step up your training to the highest degree possible, or you must enlist in our military and do the same. That is all for now. I will be open to take questions from the press in ten minutes."

Now there really was no keeping the crowd any calmer. Whenever they saw a strong opportunity and strategy to take down the Commission, they were quick to get behind it and to always have its back, even if the previous strategy failed. But as they kept chatting up a storm, Ragnarok returned back inside the medical center. He was expecting his lead engineer, John, to make an appearance soon.

And the old man did. To the commander's surprise, he was already there, waiting for him in front of the counters.

"How did you get through that gathering outside and past me?" the injured man demanded.

"I didn't. As a senior citizen here who holds a top job, I'm allowed to make reservations to see you and come in whenever I wish. I was in here about five minutes before you made your speech, but I decided not to interrupt your pre-thinking."

"That's not the attitude I've known you for." John laughed.

"Hehe, you've never known me for much other than cleaning up after you. And speaking of cleaning up after you, I'm sure you know why I made that reservation."

This was a topic that, even though the commander predicted would come up, he really did not want to discuss at this moment. Not while he was feeling an air of satisfaction.

"I'm sorry, but whatever questions you have, they are not ones that I can answer at this point."

"Why is that?" The engineer was not about to be abused with additional work.

"Because the answers to them will only come to me at a later date."

"Look, Sir, you're already faced with tons of stress, much more than everyone else here, besides The Count. Why risk making it worse on yourself and on me and everyone that I watch over?"

"Because what else are we supposed to do? We have three of our soldiers captured by the Commission, if you do not recall, so we _have _to act! Who knows what they are gradually learning about us!"

"I do know that," John threw back, "but are we really in a position to be putting more on-the-line? Hell, are you in that position?"

"I'm in enough of one."

"If you would just put your vengeance-made ego to rest for a while, maybe you'd realize that if this all went wrong, we'd all be killed!"

"Well after the last battle I got into, the Commission probably thinks that I'm dead. Their biggest labeled threat to them from the Backdraft Group, dead, so they will take their time with a lot of their operations." John shook his head.

"You're playing some extremely dangerous cards."

"Those are the only cards that I've got. And this entire organization is in danger, anyway. Think about that, then tell me I'm wrong in what I'm doing."

The commander began to wheel himself away to his room for a few minutes. Then he thought of something to help get his head of engineering on his side.

"Besides," he muttered, "think about all the money you're likely to rake in. It's worth it."

The old man sighed. He did have to admit that that comment was right. But for him, it was just that, as a senior, the upcoming workload would be extremely taxing on him. He just guessed that remorse wasn't something he should expect from the damaged commander.

* * *

"Ok, so don't really ask me what went wrong this time," Ven established. He was back in the testing room with Aero, Zanzer, and Rachel. The latter two didn't know what to think after seeing Liger Zero suddenly stop and freeze up. The former was just concerned, but didn't know how to effectively express it.

"We don't really get it, either," the lieutenant added, spinning in her chair. "Your zoid's command system locked up suddenly. The only conclusions I can come to are the armor is systematically incompatible with the Liger, or you somehow incorrectly used its abilities. Or maybe its circuitry is wired wrong. We'll have to look into the armor itself later on, but hey, at least you didn't come out of it as a wreck."

"Yeah, I know. This still annoys me more than the last armor, the Jager, did. At least I know what went wrong with that one, but I don't understand this. It's something I really don't want to have happen during battle."

"We'll just assume that it was due to improper weapon usage," Zanzer commented, "because the system froze since it was overloaded."

"That's probably true," Rachel agreed. Zanzer almost couldn't believe that her and himself were for once on the same ground. "Overloads typically happen when a chain of actions occur in quick succession."

Ven recalled the simulation, where he cut down all the trees with the Schneider's side blades while shooting Shock Cannon shells at the same time, and how he followed that all that up immediately with a Buster Slash. That definitely must have been taxing on Liger Zero's stamina, so the teenager threw out his own displeasing comment.

"I guess so."

"Just don't go feeling all down about this. Problems like these are exactly why we do testing."

"Like I said, I know. But that doesn't make these results any better."

Rachel was about to say something in return, but decided against it. She knew that juggling through all three of the armors's problems would be very tasking, so she wished they had stuck to her idea of one armor at a time. However, she knew boys would just be boys.

'Liger, it would have helped if you had told me about this possible problem. I think with this armor, you would have experienced this issue before. I can't get mad at you, though, since I make mistakes of my own.'

"I just need to get out of here. I'll spend some time resting," the teenager informed. He left the room without even letting the two older Commission employees say something to him. Aero, on the other hand, didn't plan on letting his brother suddenly separate himself from him again. Once Ven heard the smaller kid following from behind, he told him to stop.

"Just stay here for now, Aero. I really don't have it in me right now to talk."

"O…kay…" the preteen mumbled as he watched the stressed pilot depart. Aero didn't like seeing his sibling like this, and it hurt, because he knew there was nothing that he could do.

* * *

Ven was back outside as he sat down against Liger Zero's right paw. The feline had become conscious again, much to his joy; system freezes due to equipment are only temporary. Besides that, the young pilot still quizzed his zoid. After the two testing phases, he needed some answers.

"What really happened in there, Liger?" the teenager queried.

"_With the Schneider? I've been trying to figure that out, because I've had this issue before."_

"It would have been nice for you to at least warn me."

"_Kid, it's been a century. The last several times I used it, it worked perfectly fine, so I forgot what could happen."_

"I really have no idea how you could forget about an armor freezing your system more than once. But how do you not figure out what the issue was?"

"_Because whatever it was, it was not communicated to me. I would've thought my ex-pilot would have said something, but he didn't."_

"That doesn't help at all then. I mean, of course we'll eventually figure it out. I just don't want to sit here wondering about it."

"_Then don't. Just rest."_

The feline lowered its head and exposed its cockpit to provide Ven with his familiar sleeping spot. He climbed himself inside to make himself comfortable. He wasn't feeling drowsy, just mentally-taxed. Two failures that were both sudden was enough for him for the day. If anyone he knew pushed him to do more work, he would blow them off. He didn't hate them, he just wasn't in the mood to go through a near-death experience again.

"I bet this is why Thomas and Zanzer are such grouches: they go through days like today twenty-four-seven."

"_I'd rather not think about certain people at this moment."_

"Oh, fine with me," the teenager assured. As a matter of fact, he loved some quieter and lonelier time. "I think I also need to just not be bugged. Even when I'm not around them, Aero's usually nearby to add his own emotions."

"_It looks like his own zoid seems to be taming him pretty well,"_ Liger Zero joked.

"Hopefully. I do love him and all as my brother, but if he's going to be fighting alongside me, then he'll have to grow up a bit more, especially considering that he's only a few years younger than me."

"_I've already been noticing some improvements in that youngster, so just give him more time. Just know that it may take a while, and I would know."_ That at least got a chuckle out of the teenager.

"I guess, haha." That, in addition, brought up a topic in the pilot's mind. "Come to think of it, you've never told me much about your past."

And Zero wasn't too sure about how he felt about it. Was it the right time for him to share it or not?

"_You're right, I haven't. It's really…touchy to me. But…_

He had to suck this one up.

"…_I do suppose that you do deserve to hear about it."_

So Ven tuned in. He did not know it, but he was about to hear about some things that would prove to be very unsettling.

Very.


	19. New Information

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters (excluding Aero and Midnight) and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**New Information**

The warm air in the president's office was more than enough to make the room feel stable. It was comfortable enough to where anyone could come in it and peacefully sit down, unless Malcolm himself was inside. Nothing besides him ever tended to bother people. But those who were currently accompanying the president felt anything but peaceful.

The old man sat deeply in his chair as he rotated his eyes between looking at the three prisoners in front of him. They were captives the Commission had taken in during a much earlier battle, the exact same one in which the Liger Zero fought its first battle in a long time.

"I have heard a lot from each of you, and have obtained a lot of good information," Malcolm motioned as Zion, Lea, and Lamarck gazed at him nervously.

"Yes, you have," the senior pilot said.

"But neither I, nor my men and women, know where the Backdraft headquarters is located." The president moved his body in closer to rest his arms on the desk. It also helped him to stare the trio down. "Now, I know that getting details of that sort out of you is…rather impossible, unless you would be so kind."

"NEVER," cried Zion. The uproar came out of nowhere, much to Commission leader's surprise, and it caused him to back off a little.

"Obviously," he noticed, wiping some of the spit off of him. Lea would then jump in to give her calmer response.

"You've interrogated us before, and we have told you all that we are ever going to tell you. Can we make that clear?"

"You can, but unfortunately for you, that is unacceptable. The people of your regime have been a strong cause for a range of unsettling troubles in this city, _and_ throughout the globe. Go ahead and call me selfish, but I have to lead them and keep them calm, and I know how I can do that. That's why you three are in here at this moment."

"Must I repeat myself?" the woman complained.

"No, you mustn't, because it does not matter. If you do not comply, then we will execute each of you. You have all been deemed to be too strong of a threat to just be let go freely. We'll keep you all alive as long we have uses for you."

The Backdraft pilots grunted with a heavy amount of disdain. It didn't seem to them as if there was going to be anyway of getting themselves out of this predicament. An attempted escape was sure to fail given how tight the security in the Zi Tower was. Then an idea came to the Lamarck's mind.

"May we at least bargain, then?" the older Backdraft soldier asked.

"Bargain, you say?" Now they actually had the president interested.

"Mhm. In exchange for having us divulge some of the Backdraft's deepest secrets, we each obtain a working job here in Remma. However, our raise will be twenty percent higher than what the average employee would make. The additional funds would be delivered to us through a private means that no network can track, so as not to cause any controversy."

When he thought about it, the idea didn't sound too bad to Malcolm at all. In fact, despite the problem that hiring a group of people that had once led an arranged attack against his own property could initiate some negative public relations, being able to finally know where The Count resides would put to rest all further worries. However, he still had to come up with a way that would make sure that these three soldiers would be trustworthy.

"That does actually sound pretty fair," the old man acknowledged, shaking his head with squinted eyes after he mulled over Lamarck's words. "However, I do need to keep you three in boundaries if I am to go through with this. As sincere as you all look right now, there are trust issues between us, and that's something I need not explain."

The trio nodded their heads in approval. They were all just currently glad that they themselves were about to rake in what they had always wanted: money.

"So what are our terms?"

"You each will have two things you will be stuck with. Tracking devices will be hooked onto every piece of clothing you wear. They will be neatly stuffed within the material so that you will not be noticed so easily by the public. In addition, security forces will be tasked with keeping a careful eye on each of you, so do not try anything sneaky or manipulative. Am I being understood?"

Their heads nodded once again.

"In that case, let's get onto our exchanges…"

* * *

Ven couldn't quite believe a lot of what he had been hearing. The life story his fellow zoid was sharing with him proved to be one that embodied more pain than he himself had ever felt. The losses he had gone through…taking it all in proved to be a 'wow' experience to the teenager, and the feline wasn't even done yet.

"So you feel as if you're at fault for your own ex-pilot's death? And now you think you're the only Ultimate X left?"

"_Basically. But I'm still here, for some major purpose, I suppose."_

"Well I've been your major purpose so far," Ven asserted as he thought about the time the two of them have spent together. It's already been two months since they first met.

"_Haha, yeah, you have been. You're probably going to be it for a long time, too, given how things are going."_

"And that kinda chills me."

"_Moreso me than you," _Liger motioned._ "I'm just…lost, in a way. It's funny, because that's how I've always been. I've senselessly been all over Zi, or at least it felt like I was, fulfilling 'purposes'."_ Ven could sense the cry the zoid was making and tried to reassure it.

"But you made yourself a legend out of it, right?"

"_Actually, I've been blown up to be something I'm not, by the sound of it. Of course, no other zoids are really a challenge for me right now, but I'm only one zoid myself."_

The teenager was trying to rationalize with how Liger Zero was feeling. The feline was suddenly so confused after having been so triumphant and confident, so why the hard feelings? But the past events really did seem to be pushing and pulling the zoid when he took a step back to review it all. There's another sentient zoid out there that he had never heard of, there's Ragnarok having almost killed him once, and then there was Ken, a man who had somehow survived one of the deadliest recent bombing attacks.

"You're one zoid that has done more than all the others."

Ven folded his arms as he started at the panels in front of him. His eyes narrowed, just to display that his next few words would be serious.

"You know, I used to be really hard on myself, too. I had a girlfriend not too long ago, but a lot of the things I said before we broke up were extremely selfish. After that, I thought I was unfixable, but the thing is, if I was, I wouldn't be here right now, and if you were, neither would you be. Well, come to think of it, that's a given."

The pilot's words managed to mildly brighten the Liger's mood.

"_Ha, I'm sure."_

"So just believe that you are what you're hyped up to be, ok?"

"_Yeah…"_ Liger groaned, mainly because his pilots's words were right. This was how he knew partnering up with Ven was the right decision. _"It'll just take me some time before I'm fully able to do that."_

"Hey, you've been succeeding so far. You managed to help us take in another powerful zoid, and things look to only be going up from here."

The pilot laid his head back. Rethinking the story he was told, he became worried in his own right.

"I do have to wonder, though. If that other Ultimate X was anything like you are, and you're still around…"

"_I know. I've thought about that, too. And I hate to say this, but given its attitude, I know who it may side with, again."_

There was a moment of silence while Ven's mind carried the thought of possibly having to face it. Despite the fact that Zero had defeated it, he was dead sure that, like an Ultimate X would, it had memorized the feline's fighting capabilities, therefore meaning it would be a deadly force to be reckoned with.

"But you did beat it before, so beating it again, if we ever have to, shouldn't be too much of a problem, even though I know there are circumstances."

"_Let's just not think too much about it right now. There's a good chance that it no longer exists, anyway."_

The teenager then thought that maybe it would have been better if the zoid hadn't told him so much today. They already experienced failure with two of their armors, so disturbing thoughts were not what they needed, but on the bright side, they were about to be relieved when they heard a mechanical stomping sound resonating throughout the territory. Ven then angled his head slightly to see a blue Konig Wolf standing a fair distance away, and it was looking straight at Liger Zero with its own head angled. The zoid had come from around the corner to see what was up with its fellow comrades.

"_Sounds like everything's gone well,"_ Midnight joked with her soothing feminine tone.

"_We wish."_ The Konig Wolf walked out to get closer to the duo.

"_I didn't really get to see what happened, but you look like you've had your fair share."_

"_You don't even know. It's been a while since I've been through something this rough, besides brawling with you," _Zero groaned.

"_I can see that. You've never seemed so bent out-of-shape."_

"_Excuse me?"_ Now he was offended. Was a female really about to make an example of him?

"_I mean that I heard a lot more noise going on than I usually do around here. So what exactly happened, since I didn't get to watch?"_

Yes, a female was going to.

"_Our testing was just that: testing." _

"The armors failed on us, so they need to be reexamined."

"_Ven,"_ Zero cried. Midnight chuckled. This pair was interesting, to say the least. She only hoped that her own relationship with Aero would be as dynamic.

"_That explains why you two are currently out here, then,"_ the wolf judged.

"_We're staying out here for the night, I believe. There's another armor we need to try out, and then we're probably going to run through the other ones again."_

"_And then you'll look even worse, correct?"_

"_Erm…"_ Liger Zero listened for his pilot in the hopes of gaining some reassurance from him. Ven picked up on why he wasn't saying anything and threw his hands up.

"Anything that happens is on you, man."

"_You're MY pilot, which means you're on MY side! Act like it!"_

"I am helping. I'm letting you learn to get used to dealing with these things on your own."

"_Ven, you…"_

The zoid looked back up at the wolf so that he could spare himself from sounding even worse. Meanwhile, Midnight couldn't help but to enjoy the situation.

"_No, I won't. I'll have a better idea of how to handle things tomorrow."_

"_Hopefully. 'Who knew, this city's best zoid, defeated by its own equipment.' That's a funny story, isn't it?"_

"_Yeah. The only stories that are funny here are the ones that have zero ground in reality."_

"_Then I guess it's all good for you."_

"_It's not ALL good. Not even. I really wish it was, though. Damn Backdraft Group."_

The name of anti-political organization alone was more than enough to make Midnight herself feel just as uncomfortable as her teammate. She didn't even snarl this time since she had mellowed out a bit. Instead, it just made her feel depressed to know that she had been so deeply abused.

"_Don't even remind me of them," _she muttered. _"I still have that last battle in the back of my mind."_

"_Sorry, but since they're our main enemy, it IS difficult not to bring them up."_

"_But just please keep it to a minimum while you're around me."_

"_Well, a 'minimum' won't be what you're hoping it to will be, since I'm sure you'll be facing them a lot."_

"_I know that. I just try to cut down on how much I think about them. I'm already displeased with the amount of space I have to myself in that 'house' of ours, so I don't need to feel any worse."_

"_That makes two unhappy zoids, then," _Zero mentioned.

"_Yessir."_

"Don't forget about me," Ven reminded them. "I have to struggle through these things with you guys."

"_Sometimes, I try to forget about you,"_ the feline joked.

"Yeah, I know, so don't forget about me."

"_Right-o."_

"In the meantime, I need to go to sleep again. I'm gonna walk through hell again tomorrow, so I need to be ready. Plus, your story was a lot to take in."

"_Yeah, yeah, that's good, that's good. Maybe that'll help me forget about you."_ The black and white zoid made sure his hatch was secure, and then he waited for his pilot to fall asleep. Due to the tussles they'd been through, it wasn't hard for the teenager to fall unconscious. To this extent, Zero was glad, because it would allow himself to converse quietly with Midnight some more.

"_So you told him?" _Midnight asked.

"_Told him what?"_

"_You know…about who you really are."_

"_Oh…"_ Zero grumbled. _"No. I only told him about what I did about a hundred years ago. My adventure with my previous pilot against the…well, I won't say their name, because of you."_

"_You learn quick,"_ the wolf laughed.

"_It's a skill I've had to make use of too many times."_

"_And it's a skill I'm trying to make use of right now. I can tell I'm gonna have to get used to…a still-amateur pilot. Of course, he is the 'one' for me, so things will get better."_

The topic of the 'one' still ran circles around Liger Zero's mind. It really kept making him wonder how he was going to get used to this new companion of his.

"_I still don't understand where you get your concepts from, even though I'm as old as I am."_

"_Don't try to figure it out."_

"_Ok…"_

Now the feline REALLY didn't know what to think.

"_It's still something that I dwell on,"_ the Konig Wolf growled. _"All I know is destiny is something I'm supposed to chase."_

Liger Zero didn't even mutter something this time. In fact, he was even more confused now.

"_Urgh, I think you've been hearing enough from me lately. Just…clear your mind and enjoy the night."_

"_Clearing my mind…Yeah, I'll try that."_ Of course, Zero was being sarcastic. There was no way he could manually do it. It would just have to happen on its own as the minutes went by.

And they went by slowly.

* * *

The rest of the day went by just as Ragnarok expected: multiple questions from news reporters came flying to him by the dozens, making it rare enough for him to even catch a decent breath. Being in a bad physical condition and having to answer to everything that flew your way was not the most pleasant of activities, but the commander was more than willing to push himself through the demanding work. He knew the rewards that would be reaped would make the entire process more than worth it.

But that doesn't mean the questions themselves were easy to answer, though. A lot of them really tried to dig in to what he had planned, to the point where he even had to come up with some ideas on-the-spot. This was something that he both loved and hated, because while thinking of the right words to say wasn't easy, the determination he was seeing was what his cause would need behind itself. Things were definitely going to go well.

Then his rest period came, and he wished it would last for forever. Publicity stress is not something you grow up learning to deal with, so for him, it was something he was still adjusting to. Sure, he had been on the receiving end of it many times before, but now it was at an all-time high.

And so Ragnarok kept going back and forth with himself in his mind about how mixed his feelings currently were. Once he came to think about it, he wasn't sure if he had completely thought this cause through as much as he should have. Successful or not, he was still going to have to talk to The Count again, the one man who could really challenge him about the politics behind all the events that would eventually happen.

"Maybe I should be glad that I'm no longer the Top Commander," the commander said to himself as he stared out a window. "There's so much crap that I don't have to deal with from now on. I just hope I'm not making more."

"There's still time to reconsider," John announced. He was at the room's doorstep with his shoulder against the door.

"What the hell are you doing here, John?" Ragnarok demanded. He certainly hadn't been expecting his follow right-hand assistant to come by.

"I'm here to hopefully help you make amends." The old engineer softened his posture to walk beside his boss.

"There's no amends or reconsidering to be done. This entire string of operations will be in full-swing before you even know it."

"That still leaves time for some more decision-making."

"There's no decision-making to be done, either." From John's perspective, Ragnarok's attitude was only creating a discontent air.

"Look, 'commander', are you forgetting that you are not the only one close to yourself that will be affected by this?" the engineer pondered as he looked down at the injured man.

"No, I'm not." Now the commander himself was also becoming annoyed. "Do I have to tell you again about how this will benefit you? The money?"

"I don't care about my money as much as I care about my age."

"Tsk, that's a new one. Your age, are _you_ forgetting that you're not the only one affected by this? You may not like it, but the truth is, I'm not anybody's daddy. I lead, I give orders, I send out information, that's it. Then a cycle of shit tends to follow."

"I never asked you to be a caretaker. What it is is that I really am not sure the Backdraft Group can currently handle what you have in mind."

"And even if it can't, we're fucked anyhow. And if you've come to talk to me twice in-a-row, then I assume that you have something better in mind?"

John was also staring out the exact same window, unsure of what to say. He thought that Ragnarok may have been smart in some way, but he could not at all see a bright future coming. Maybe their own organization itself would have to turn the tables…

"Just about all of us have joined the Backdraft because of finance-related reasons, but with the way things are, those reasons are probably partially why we are suffering the way we are. The only thing I can think of is if we talk to the President-"

"ARE YOU KIDDING?" the commander yelled as he stared up at the bewildered engineer. "Negotiation was knocked out-of-the-bag years ago, and you're standing here next to me considering it?"

"We need to be realistic here," John retorted.

"Be realistic? Here's some realism: they have what was our strongest zoid, they have the Liger Zero, and they hate us more than anything. Even if we held a meeting that ended in our favor, how will we look to the public once we try to fit in again? We'd all be a bunch of goddamn abused punching bags! And here's some more realism: look at the big picture. We don't have anything else to do in this world other than to fight. That's all we've ever been doing, so why stop now?"

The old man really hated to hear those last words. For him, they painted the gruesome picture of what would be his next few years, and it was something he had a hard time coming to admit. Ragnarok was really clearly seeing this.

"I'm sorry about what this could mean to you, but as a commander, I have to view your emotions irrelevantly and pursue what I feel is best. Although I get confused about my own feelings about this, I can't let them get in the way."

The blue-haired man twisted his wheelchair and maneuvered it so that he would go towards his bed.

"Now that I've gotten through to you, I just need to worry about what The Count will say to me. He'll probably scream things similar to what you've just said."

"I believe he's already made an announcement that he wants to come and talk to you."

"Oh great, he's even letting others know about our complicated relationship. Just what everybody needs to hear."

And it was only a matter of seconds later before a deep feminine voice spoke through the intercom.

"WILL RAGNAROK PLEASE REPORT TO THE FRONT DESK."

"I can only wonder why I'm wanted," he sulked, turning his wheelchair the other way before he headed out of his private room. However, right when he reached the doorstep, he turned his head slightly to the side to make one last comment, "Don't forget about the money you're about to rake in."

The twisted demand threw John's emotions all over the place while he continued to think deeply about the situation. Should he have his closest coworker's back or not?

* * *

Liger Zero was between the docking bays again as his body's white parts were replaced with the far heavier and much more massive green and black pieces. The extreme weight of the new armor was a huge shock to the feline, for he had not experienced it in a long, long while. Of the three armors so far, he could tell that this one was going to take the longest to get used to.

"_This weight…I must be getting weak and old."_

"I should have expected this earlier," Ven sympathized. "Maybe you should have had another day or so of rest before attempting this one."

"_No, it's fine. The mass of this is the hardest part to adjust to. Everything else is all on you."_ Now the zoid was putting the pressure on Ven.

"That's really nice of you to tell me."

"_You're welcome."_

And then the zoid graaaaaaduaaaaalllllllyyyyy walked over to the elevator. The extremely slow speed concerned Ven, because any new enemies would be sure to take advantage of it. He figured this just meant that this armor would only be really useful if he had a squad around him.

They were once again raised up to the launch pad where they could get a good view of the virtual room ahead of them for a third time, except that this time around, the pad was somewhat elevated downwards so that Liger Zero would immediately be in contact with the ground as soon as he was thrown out. A video display of Rachel popped up in the cockpit to let the teenager know this.

"Hello there, again," the woman greeted.

"Hi." Ven wasn't feeling so enthused.

"If you're noticing a change in this room, it's only because of the Panzer's mass. Sending the Liger Zero into the air while having this armor equipped would be fatal for the zoid."

"Okay."

"And brighten up! Jeez, boys and men these days…"

The green zoid adjusted its footing so that it would be ready for launch.

"We're ready," the pilot informed.

"Alright, then. We'll begin the testing phase…NOW!"

The image of the lieutenant instantly disappeared. A couple seconds later, the duo felt themselves traveling forward at a very familiar speed, and as they continued their descent, they noticed the room shift into a what resembled an indoor shooting range, besides the fact that there was nothing to stand behind. In fact, the room would have been barren if it wasn't for the targets that were popping up.

"Isn't this interesting."

"_It's the right kind of test for this armor."_

The weighty feline forcefully hit the ground and felt even more shaken. Ven himself could even sense the same change the zoid was experiencing. It was one thing to be standing on a stable ground designed for holding a zoid up, but in the testing room, it wasn't so simple. This was demonstrated by how Liger was constantly trying to balance himself.

"You ok, Buddy? Is this normal?" the teenager was doing his best in trying to assist the zoid, however, his actions demanded a lot of strength, something of which he didn't have a lot of. The strenuous work was making him drop little bits of sweat here and there onto his clothing.

"_Yeah, it is. It just takes even more adjusting to,"_ Zero growled. _"Take aim!"_

A row of shooting targets that were lined up with one behind and in front of another suddenly popped up. Ven stared at it cluelessly because he was still getting used to this armor. It was only when something extended from behind him and covered his right eye that he had an idea of what he was supposed to do. It initially surprised him that the object came forward, but once he looked through it, he realized it was a visor with an aiming reticule.

"Is this for the Hybrid Cannons?"

"Correct."

"Then here we go…"

The pilot took his time lining up the reticule with the row of targets. He figured that given how powerful the Hybrid Cannons were, he may not be able to take too many shots with them, so he wanted to make sure the ones he did take counted. Once he was confident with his aim, he finally pulled the trigger, and he watched as four massive beams flew straight out from the cannons, pursuing the row in front of them and effortlessly tearing through the targets while Liger Zero was blown back a few hundred feet…

…straight into the launch pad.

"Argh," Ven groaned as he braced himself with his hands holding on tightly to the controls. "Are you serious? Rachel and the others didn't think this would happen? Even after reading about this armor?"

"_Obviously not."_

Luckily for them, the pad wasn't angled so that they would topple over. Instead, because of the Panzer's weight, they slid back down towards the 'metal' ground, where they would be able to see even more targets rise up. The difference with their formation now was that instead of being lined up, they were spread out into multiple spots all over the virtual surface.

"So now they make it even more fun, huh?"

As he said that, other targets faded into existence and hovered in the air, with some of them even moving around.

"_They definitely did, if not harder at the same time."_

"So then what do we do now?"

The Liger Zero paused. Did Ven not read much about this armor either?

"Come on, are you gonna help me out?"

"_You must have read just as much about the Panzer as your friends."_

"My friends?" The pilot was disappointed. He didn't know what he thought of Rachel, Zanzer, and Thomas as, but they definitely were not friends of his.

"_Or your family, or your coworkers, whatever."_

"Listen, just…whatever you do, don't refer to them as my friends. I'm still getting to know these people, and even though I've worked with them a lot, I hate a couple of them."

"_Okay, well, whatever! This next move requires some help from me."_

"What are you talking about?"

The teen's answer came to him when he saw multiple screens lighting up around his view. An additional set of them rose up in front of him at the very edge of the cockpit. After the setup was complete, each of the miniscreens displayed all of the targets on themselves and highlighted each of them with red dots. They would all fall prey to the barrage of missiles that were being prepared as Zero's missile pods that were located on each side of the Panzer opened up.

"Oh, I see now," Ven commented as he grinned at the possibilities of what the Panzer could do. "We take 'em all out in one shot, eh?"

"_Exactly,"_ Liger agreed.

"Then I'm wasting time."

He pushed down on the red button on his steers.

"BURNING BIG BANG!"

At the issue of the order, all of the armed missiles shot out of their pods and chased their assigned targets. The attack looked as if it was going to be an endless volley of explosions that decimated everything in sight and would leave nothing for anyone else to see. The smoke that was made from the blasts created a cloudy-looking sky above the zoid that left Ven awestruck. He was telling himself, after seeing what he was seeing, that despite how ridiculously slow this piece of equipment could move, the firepower more than made up for that one particular flaw. In fact, he almost even forgot about it..

"_Isn't it beautiful?"_

"It's…It's awesome!"

However, to quell his excitement, the pilot noticed a sharp rise in the temperature around him. To make matters worse, it was rising up enough so to give him a sudden mild headache, and it wasn't about to ease up.

"Uh, Liger? What's happening now?"

The zoid was also noticing something going wrong, and he had to remember back to a hundred years ago to figure out what was happening. His own body was starting to overheat to way past its normal temperature.

"_Damn it. Don't worry, this is normal, too. I'll try to cool it down."_

Liger's method of doing so was to release all of the hot air he had gathered up from firing the Panzer's two signature weapons. His vents opened up and immediately began to let out massive mists that clouded the vision in front of him, but the current heat was still being problematic.

"It's still really hot in here."

"_Grrrrr! In that case, eject the armor. I really don't need to have you pass out inside me."_

"Alright then."

The teenager pushed the eject button. Liger Zero's body instantly let go of the massive green armor and roared simultaneously as he felt the relief of the lowered temperature, as Ven sighed in bliss for the same reason while he slumped in his seat. He thought he was going to hate this before he even started, and now he suddenly did. It was perfect success, then mild success.

"_It's also normal to have to eject this armor."_

"Then we probably won't be using it often. Not if it means my skin melts off."

Rachel's face popped up again, this time with Aero's hair scrunched up against her cheek.

"YOU'RE ALIVE, VEN?" she squealed. Ven felt like he was being insulted.

"Were you hoping I'd die? Jesus, thanks for the love."

"The temperature in there was at an all-time high!"

"What did you expect from a superweapon armor like this?"

"If it's usage alone will put your life at risk, then using it at all may not be smart."

"Like you said, I'm alive. It's usable. Besides, Liger here seems to like it."

"_I don't know if I'd say that,"_ Zero grumbled. He proceeded to shake himself to help himself get used to his lighter weight again.

"I'm sure it loves having to throw its armor off like that. We can talk more in the testing room. Oh, and the President is going to meet us here, too, so look nice!"

Then her image disappeared again. The teenager was thinking about how he was going to follow through with her request.

"Look nice? After this?"

"_Remember Ven, look nice,"_ the zoid joked, just for reassurance.

"Eve."

* * *

For another third time, Ven sat in the testing room, but this time there was no Zanzer or Ken. It was just himself, his younger brother, the lieutenant, and the president, who was only there this time to present some news. However, before anyone could bring up the important matters, all they could do was look at the red-skinned pilot of the Liger Zero. He was definitely a sight-to-see after nearly being roasted.

"You really do not look well," Rachel commented. Aero walked towards him with worry on his face. "Do you want water?"

"Just dump a gallon of it all over me," the teenager suggested.

"What happened in there?" the preteen asked with his soft voice.

"I died, and I'm trying to come back to life."

"Well we certainly do not need you dead," Malcolm asserted. Ven couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

"I guess that's sympathetic." In the meantime, Rachel went into another nearby room to go fetch a couple water bottles for the taxed pilot to drown himself in.

"It is. I'd be hearing numerous complaints from your parents if you were not alive."

"Please do not remind me about my mom and dad," the sweaty kid complained. "I wonder what they'd think of me now."

"I'm sure they've heard, but they have not reached out to us since your trial."

Ven then looked down at Aero and stared at him. If there was anyone their parents would call in about, it would be his younger brother.

"Not even for Aero?"

"Nope. I would have expected them call for him as well."

Then he continued to think about what their relationship would be like. Aero had a super zoid of his own who had a very different personality compared to him. Would they really be able to work well together?

Just then, Rachel came back into the testing room and provided the teen she used to babysit with plenty of water to douse himself with. Once, he grabbed the water bottles, he wasted no time in using them to drench himself. The water felt spectacular as he started to cool down.

"So what's happened?" he asked after downing a few sips. The woman looked at him almost disgustedly as she sat down again, but she understood why he was doing what he was doing. She then proceeded to provide him with the statistics he needed to hear.

"Everything was going phenomenally well up until the very end when the temperature in the cockpit rose to over one hundred and fifty degrees. It seems like the only major issue we seem to be having is how we're trying to finish these tests off."

"Like I told you, this sort of stuff is probably going to happen with an armor like that. Liger even told me so himself."

While Ven was drinking even more, he noticed the two adults keeping their eyes locked on to him. At first, he was confused, but then he rolled his own once he figured out their reason for doing so.

"Come on," the teenager complained. "You guys haven't gotten used to this yet?"

"Sorry about that," Malcolm apologized as he took his gaze away. "Like I told you before, this whole idea of sentience is going to take a while before it sits well with me."

"It would be a lot more convenient if you could speed it up."

"HEY!"

Malcolm didn't like the teenager's rebellious attitude one bit. His stare returned to Ven's face with far sharper eyes.

"Don't you _dare_ forget who is the president here. I am the leader, so I can go at whatever pace I am comfortable with! I can also treat you much similarly to how I treat Thomas, so watch your words!"

"Like firing the Liger Zero's pilot is going to do you any good."

"I wouldn't fire you. No, that would be stupid of me. Instead, your pay would be WAY reduced."

"Okay, okay, fine."

"Yes, that's right."

"Anyway," Rachel interrupted, ending their bitter exchange. "Do either of you really believe that the usage of this armor is smart? Because, Ven, each time you use it, you're gonna come out looking like…"

She ran her eyes up his entire body. She was having a hard time not showing any further distaste for the messy sight that sat on the couch.

"…well, this."

"I'll just use it sparingly. But when I do use it, do you think there is any way for us to fine tune the air conditioning system it has equipped? I used it, but I barely felt anything coming from it."

"Perhaps. We can talk to the technicians around here about that. Still, I really don't dig having to look at you like this. It's nasty!"

"At least I'm beginning to feel better. Thanks for the water, by the way."

"Boy, I was going to get you some whether you wanted it or not."

"Look, you don't have to babysit me anymore."

"Apparently, I do." The lieutenant twisted her chair to look at the statistics again before she looked through the stats for the previous armors as well. There sure was a lot of work that was going to have to be done. Malcolm walked up behind her to look over her shoulder so that he, too, would be in-the-know about how Liger Zero may be used later on down the road.

"I have heard a lot about these armors," the president commented.

"Of course, you've researched the Liger Zero to death," Rachel mumbled. "Before we even excavated it, did you ever take a break from trying to learn more about its origins?"

"Not really." He smiled toothily. "But besides all that, I do have something that I'm sure all of you would really like to hear."

"What's that?" Ven, Aero, and Rachel all blurted at the same time.

"Now take it easy," he ordered as he looked at the siblings and pushed his hands downward to tell them to calm down. "It is something that could be of great assistance to us. You see, we have hired three new zoids engineers. However, these aren't any ordinary engineers. Ven, do you remember your very first battle with the Liger Zero?"

The silver-haired teenager recalled all the way back to the attack on the base in the desert a few months ago. Of all the battles he and Zero have been involved in, that one by far was the most memorable one to him. It was when the two of them bonded for the first time and established their friendship.

"Of course. How could I ever forget?"

"I don't know. But we took the three leaders of that attack captive, and they are now the employees that I speak of."

Ven was now trying really hard to keep himself from jumping up and yelling something at the president. This old man was one he had a knack for having a bad relationship with, but what in the world was he thinking of now? Rachel felt very similarly about the news.

"Please do not tell me that you are going out of your mind," the teenager demanded.

"I'd have to repeat what Ven is saying, Mr. President," Rachel addressed.

"I am fully aware of the decision that has been made," Malcolm reassured to calm everyone down. "They will not be average employees, however, as they will have security constantly following them around, and in addition, they will be working separately from everyone else. Don't go thinking I hired them just so that we could have more engineers, though. No, as a trade for being able to obtain their own salaries from the Commission, they have provided us with the coordinates that will show us the location of the Backdraft Group's base."

And then Rachel's and Ven's moods began to soften. They could have sworn that if what they were hearing was true, then the nightmare was about to be over for everyone all over Zi, but upon thinking about it more, the lieutenant started to worry about whether these new-hires would actually be telling the truth or not.

"Ummmm, Malcolm," the woman called to the president with a lower tone of voice.

"What is it?"

"As great as it is to hear that they gave you the coordinates, how do you know if they were lying or not?"

"They have been threatened with a death sentence if it is found out that the coordinates are fake."

"That doesn't mean they wouldn't lie. Backdraft Group members have been known to put the pride they have in their organization above their own lives."

"That's true, but this is the best bet that we've got." Ven then decided to throw in his own opinion.

"Not if they mess around with Liger Zero. Actually, working on Liger Zero is something they shouldn't be allowed to do."

"I have already told them that. They will also not be allowed to touch Aero's zoid, either. On that note, touching it may not be safe for them, either."

Aero began to giggle with his own sense of pride at the same time. His zoid was a big and bad zoid, oh boy!

"I still need to spread the word about this to the rest of my regions. I figured I would let the three of you hear about it first since two of you are the owners of our most powerful zoids, and the other is one of my most trusted lieutenants." Rachel was mildly flattered by the compliment.

"Thank you, Sir," she said.

"For now, I'll take my leave. But before I go, you, Aero," Malcolm directed, looking down at the streaked-haired kid, "I will want to talk with you later on about your zoid. I still need to think about how I want it…I mean, 'her', to fit into working with us, and when I come up with an answer, you'll need to know."

The kid bobbed his head up and down and put his right hand on his forehead in a saluting position.

"Yessir." The president smiled.

"So somebody's teaching him manners, am I correct?" The old man shifted his gaze to Ven's heated body.

"He always was a good kid. He just never really showed it that well," the teenager responded.

"I suppose that's good to know, then. Anyway, I'm out of here. I've got further work that needs to be done, so good luck with the armors."

Malcolm gradually walked out of the room with his hands behind his back and disappeared into the darkness, similar to how Ken did earlier, only minus the eeriness.

Aero was beginning to think about what the President had told him. He didn't often times hear nice things from that man, let alone a good attitude. However, while he thought about it, his own thoughts drifted back to his own zoid, Midnight. As he thought about her more and more, he recalled that he still hadn't gotten to know her very well, and doing so was something he felt he needed to do if he was going to be her pilot. In other words he wanted to take his own leave.

"Hey, Ven," he piped up at his older brother.

"Hmm? What's up?"

"Can I go down to Midnight for a while? I just wanna spend some fun time with her."

"Go ahead. She's your zoid, so you do whatever you see fit." The preteen's face lit up. To Ven's, and even somewhat to Rachel's surprise, he did his best to wrap his arms around his brother's body and hugged him.

"Okie-dokie," he said, releasing Ven from his soft grip. He was now a little wet, himself, but he didn't care. Then he turned around and waved at Rachel. "Bye bye, both of you." He, too, was gone within a few seconds.

"I didn't expect that," the teenage pilot commented.

"Neither did I," the lieutenant added. She was still facing her monitor. She didn't even try to look back, so Ven thought something was wrong.

"Are you okay?" he queried.

"You're not my babysitter, either." Her response also surprised Ven. What was with the attitude?

"Uhhhhhhhh…"

However, while he was trying to find his words, Rachel slowly twisted her chair with her eyes closed. She was really not enjoying her work of having to work with all these ridiculous males. Then she opened her eyes…and quickly closed them again as soon as she saw Ven's water-drenched self.

"Ew," she groaned as she twisted her seat back to its original position. The teenager had figured that of all the people he'd have to work with, Rachel would be the one with the least stupid scenarios he'd have to put up with. Apparently, he was wrong.

* * *

The lone Konig Wolf sat outside in the original spot Aero had parked her in. She hadn't seen him since yesterday, and she was beginning to wonder why he hadn't come back yet. In fact, his absence-without-her-notice even made her even begin to form some extremely small doubts about their relationship. On the other hand, he was still a young kid who most likely did not yet know how to consider how others felt, especially a zoid.

'_It's strange… Without him, I feel alone. Why is that I only feel this way after finally meeting him? Does it have to do with him being 'one'? I've been by myself for so long, yet I haven't experienced this feeling in a long time.'_

Midnight stuck to her thoughts since she was trying to figure herself out. The last time the wolf had to deal with others in her life was several centuries ago, so she had to get used to her own emotions all over again. She had been thinking about them for the majority of the past night, and to her, it felt as if she was trapped in a loop of confusion. Then on top of that, she kept on thinking that maybe she needed a certain someone to help her out of it. Luckily, that someone showed up.

"Midnight," a high-pitched voice called.

_Huh? Is that you, Aero?_ The Konig Wolf knew the voice sounded very familiar. She looked around for the thirteen-year-old and spotted him running out of a building in his cyan blue clothing. It really seemed as if he had missed her.

"Yup," he yelled out loud, loud enough for her to hear him from a far distance.

_Where have you been?_

"The big bossy adults made me stay with them last night. They don't let me go do anything!"

_Oh, Aero…_ Midnight muttered. Yup, he was for sure a little kid.

"What?"

_Just…I don't know…_

And now that she thought about it, she felt kind of relieved to have her pilot around her again. Or maybe it was just knowing that he was okay and that he hadn't abandoned her. She still didn't know, other than she knew her mood was a lot better.

_So… What's…up?_

But she didn't always know how to start conversations all that well.

"Nothing much. I just wanted to come down to have some FUN TIME HERE," the preteen exclaimed, raising his arms up in excitement as he stopped in front of the dark blue zoid.

_Yeah, of course, haha. Wait, Aero, what's 'fun time'?_

"I don't know," he said as his mood suddenly returned to normal. "Just talking'n'stuff. HEY, CAN I SIT IN THE COCKPIT AGAIN?"

Midnight chuckled. It still felt strange, but she liked the wild mentality Aero had. She knew it would surely prove to be entertaining to be around.

_Of course._

"YAY!"

The wolf brought her front legs down and let her head touch the ground. As soon as her jaw felt the concrete, she opened the hatch and watched as her pilot hurriedly ran over and climbed right in to make himself comfortable. Then she manually brought it back down for him. Unfortunately, Aero didn't like that.

"Keep it open," he ordered. "Fresh air is nice."

_Uh, okay, Child._ Just like any other kid, he was being demanding, although she found it to be somewhat admirable.

"That's nice…" Aero kicked back in his seat by putting his feat on top of the controls and his hands behind his head. His eyes were closed as he breathed in and out. "I've seen my older bro do this a lot. It looked cool, so Imma try it."

She couldn't see what he was doing, but she could certainly feel his movements.

_So what did you wanna talk about?_

"Just stuff."

_What stuff?_

"You know…stuff. Like, stuff stuff."

_Well, what is stuff?_

"I don't know… I guess it's just stuff."

Then the zoid wondered if she would be able to get along with him well, but as she thought about it, she realized that there was 'stuff' she wanted to learn about him, as well as 'stuff' that he should probably learn about her. Yeah, maybe that would be a good way to move things along.

_By 'stuff', do you mean stuff about both of us?_

"Yup."

_Would've been nice to just say that…_

"Yeah. So…tell me a story."

_A story? Well, Child, mine's kinda deep-_

"Tell me it."

The wolf tried to think of where would be a good place to begin. Was her own life going to be too much for the youngster to grasp? Then she decided that she would just give him the short and easy to understand version instead.

_Sure…then. I am an ancient zoid that has lived for thousands of years. When I was first designed, I was mentally 'raised' by my ex-pilot, Elisi Linette. She and I were inseparable at the same time, and I did whatever I could to take care of her. We got caught in many battles, and I was also used to help detain the most powerful zoid that ever walked on Zi: the Deathsaurer. Have you heard of it?_ Aero nodded his head in response.

"Yup, I have. Who hasn't?"

_I wouldn't know. After it was brought down, I was put to sleep by my pilot. I don't remember why, but I know she had a good reason. She was far too sweet to not have one. That's it for me._

Aero noticed the length of her story and was displeased, having hoped to hear a much longer rant.

"That was kinda short."

_That's all there is for me to tell you. So what about you?_

"Me? I think I'm normal. I just like to run around this place. I love electronics, too. I customize my own stuff behind Ven's back. He doesn't even know it!"

Now it was the preteen's turn to laugh as he thought about all the things he's made without his older brother noticing. Of course, none of them were legitimate devices, but rather they were just betas for gadgets he wanted to make later on. But now that he thought about it, he didn't know if he was going to be able to spend so much time designing them anymore.

Midnight wasn't concerned about that, though. The Konig Wolf focused on the fact that he said he could customize mechanical objects. She was pretty sure that he counted zoids as mechanical objects, so what could he possibly do with her…?

'_This 'one' could do all kinds of things to me, both good and bad. At least he seems to like me too much to do something harmful. Hmmmm, this could really be beneficial…'_

_That was also kinda short,_ the zoid commented.

"Short story for short story, then."

_Heh, That's true._

"Well… Now that I think about it, I _hate_ my parents. They kept me in the house all the time! Then they'd bust me for going outside and seeing the world! They're stupid, I hate them!"

_They were only being mean because they care about you._

"They don't care about me. They just wanna lock me up in the house and be bullies! They always yell at me when I have tons of fun outside. I don't get it… I'm glad I don't see them anymore."

_Don't say that!_

It was also beginning to look to the wolf like she was going to have to be a careful guardian for her new pilot. She should have seen that as a given, given his immaturity.

"Meh. Hey, but I met somebody awesomely-awesome like you. I HAVE AN EXCUSE TO STAY OUT AND SEE THE WORLD! YAHOO!"

_Yeah… The world isn't pretty, Aero. I'm sure your brother can attest._

"Lalalalala."

_Aero… _If she was a living organism, she would have sighed, but instead, she just paused. _…you're too cute of a child._

The preteen's eyes shot open at the hearing of the word 'cute'. No, nobody was ever going to refer to him as 'cute'.

"Did you call me cute?"

Right now, Midnight didn't feel like triggering any emotions in the young pilot, so she lied and told him, _No, I didn't._ Then he pulled his head out from the cockpit so he could stare intimidatingly at the zoid's eye.

"Are you suuuurrrrreeeeee?"

_Ahem… Yes, I'm sure._

Aero continued to look at her with doubt for the next few seconds. (Sweatdrop down Midnight's cheek) He could have sworn that he heard the word 'cute' come from her.

"Oooooookay then. Whatever you say, Middynight. Midnighty. OOOH, YOU NEED A NICKNAME!" (Another sweatdrop) "Let me see, what shall I call you… I call Ven 'bro', Ven calls his zoid 'Liger' and 'Zero', I call Malcolm 'mean big guy', I call that blonde security guy 'stalker'… Hmmmm…"

_Just please call me Midnight. That's short and sounds fine._

"NO," Aero verbally threw at her. "NICKNAME! How 'bout…Mid…Night- BLAH! That's your name…"

The preteen slumped back into the cockpit and stared helplessly outside. He could not think of a nickname. Not being able to come up with a nickname was a failure in his small world. Meanwhile, his zoid couldn't but admire her pilot's corniness once he quieted down. He was at least showing that he cared, and he showed that they were definitely going to have their own dynamic partnership. Now all the they needed to do was face their own unique scenarios.

_Haha, that's good. Anyway, Aero...I need to tell you something…"_

"You do?" he asked. Now he was lit up again. "What is it?"

_You and I are gonna have to start training soon. No Ven or Liger Zero. Just me and you and whatever stands in our way. How does that sound?_

"That…that sounds…EPIC!"

_Good then. Everyone here probably wanted to see what I could do sooner or later, anyway. You'll have to talk with the people here about that._

"Yes, I will! But later – I'm not going back up that ugly elevator."

_That's fine. Just do it sometime. If I talk to them, they'll probably retreat away from me._

"Yeah… Imma sleep."

And then Aero fell asleep in a few seconds right then and there. Meanwhile, Midnight continued to think about the good times that were looking to be ahead of her. Just like Liger Zero, she'd need some of her own positive memories if she was going to fit into this new world.

* * *

Ragnarok was sitting in his wheelchair at the front desk with a guest that he had largely not been expecting. It was the same red-haired archaeologist from before who dropped him back off at the Backdraft base when he was injured. However, he was also the same man who defied a director order from himself, and the commander was still having a hard time forgiving him for that. As thankful as he was for having his life saved, a backstabber is a backstabber. In his eyes, they are never people that you can fully understand.

"It's been a while since we last met," Xavier greeted with his hand out. Ragnarok returned the gesture with a firm handshake.

"Likewise."

"You don't seem to be looking quite so bad now." This time, he was joking, but the man below him wasn't laughing.

"I didn't think I'd ever look this bad up until recently."

"No surprise there. Anyway, I'm only making a quick visit here to give you something."

"Oh, if only someone in this organization would be so kind to me."

"I will be." The archaeologist pulled a notepad out of one of his shirt's pockets and handed it to the injured commander. Ragnarok didn't know what to make of the small gift.

"What is this for?"

"Open up to the first page and read it through. Remember how I told you that I would tell you more about what I was able to translate from the text in that cave? This is all of that information in written form for you to look over whenever you want to."

The injured man raised his brow up at the pilot in front of him. What he was saying sounded a little too good to be true. In most cases, people who were demoted didn't receive such valuable documents so soon after being lowered. However, his own excitement was beginning to get to him, so he opened up to the first page and saw a whole bunch of blue horizontal lines that were littered with text. Afterwards, he speedily flipped through the notepad and noticed that the next few pages were as packed with words as the first.

"I heard about what you plan on doing," Xavier commented, "so I figured this would be essential for you now. Besides, I told you before that I would give you this information. I would feel horrible if I didn't stick to my word."

"Oh, you're already horrible. You didn't stick to your word as a Backdraft soldier during a certain mission. But looking at this information, you're just all the better now."

"I would hope so. It took me a while to compile all of it."

Ragnarok then shut the book closed and put it in one of his own pockets.

"I'll have to read all of this during my own time. I can't afford to do so now when I know I will be bothered by a particular higher-up any minute now. I tend to need to concentrate hard while I am taking in a lot of new information, and an interruption would throw me off."

"There's no need to say anything to me. All I wanted to do was follow through with what I said. Anyway, if you don't mind, I need to take my leave. I have a wife that is demanding me to do a lot right now and some children that miss me."

"You have a family?" the commander queried. "I wouldn't have guessed such a busy soldier to have one."

"My wife and I have the same job, and plus, our son and daughter enjoy helping us out. We've essentially made avid Backdraft supporters out of them."

"Sounds like it." Ragnarok mustered up the best smile he could and reached out his arm once more for a last handshake. "I hope you and your family take care."

"You, too." Xavier gave into the same gesture with his own smile. "It looks like you're gonna have things real hard, too." Those words made the blue-haired man think back to his recent conversation with John.

"They already are, and they're not going to get better."

Xavier then turned towards the doors that would take him outside and began to walk outward.

"That's a given," he responded. Then right when he made it to the entrance, Ragnarok decided to pop one final question.

"By the way, I want to ask you something: are you a supporter of my cause?"

"Through and through."

The commander saw the man's body exit and walk farther away. It didn't take long for his image to completely disappear, and now that there was some silence, he started to feel even more thankful for the item he received.

'_Hopefully this thing will serve real nicely,'_ Ragnarok thought to himself as he looked down at the pocket where he had stuffed it neatly. _'Come to think of it, The Count won't just come out of nowhere and yell at me, so perhaps I could spend some time right now reading through this.'_

He pulled the notepad back out and opened it up to page one. From there, he spent the next few minutes skimming his eyes along all the words the archaeologist had written down for him. Everybody else in the room was stuck to their computer monitors, so he was in the perfect atmosphere for him to learn every little piece of amazing information that he was gradually discovering. Everything that that red-haired man had come up with was making absolutely perfect sense, and Ragnarok was beginning to think that he was having an epiphany. All the perfect battle strategies he could come up with, along with all the ways he would now be able to initiate to take advantage of his enemies… It all made it seem as if things were becoming too good to be true, but they weren't. No, everything was real.

He closed the notepad back up again after he finished gazing through it.

"This is it," he whispered. "As long as we can keep all of this logged…the Commission will be finished. Hahahahahahahahahahahaha…"


	20. The Coming Storm

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters (excluding Aero and Midnight), and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**The Coming Storm**

There was no unnoticeable sound in the room. Nothing went unheard. Not the mouse clicks, not the keyboards shuffling back and forth, and not the loud, audio-producing monitors that were hard at work displaying all the statistical data that was being requested. It was a large room, designed purely for gathering together the latest data about the Commission's plans all in one stored and organized area. It was Rachel who was in charge of it for the most part. At least, when some of her employees who would otherwise be in her current position were taking a day off.

The lieutenant sat at the back of the room, palms up against her forehead as she attempted to digest all the information that was being relayed her way through her own computer. At this point, everything was starting to seem as if it was too much since Malcolm had always put her in a rush and barely gave her a break. She thought that if someone else came up to her and asked her a question, she would crack. Another word from someone she knew, and that person would wish that they never knew her. Fortunately, all she heard was the opening of a set of doors to her left.

'_So many people coming and going…'_ Rachel moaned in her mind. _'Is it someone important this time?'_

Followed by the closing of the doors, she heard footsteps growing more audible and coming closer to her. They were made up of the light sound that she had become familiar with many years ago (and as of recent), and she looked up to stare into red-burnt face of Ven. Here, she felt a sense of relief, and slight disgust.

"Oh, it's you," she mumbled, trying to fix herself up by sitting up and making herself appear confident and presentable.

"Yeah, it's me," he added. "What? Not even a little bit of excitement?"

Rachel quietly laughed as she let her posture slump in her seat and tried to take in the young man's presence. Even as she worked with him, it was still hard to see him as a teammate rather than someone she watched over.

"Not since before all this. Not to sound mean, but you and the Liger Zero are practically a side job to me. I've got to put together all of this…"

She held her hands out in front of her, backed up, and expanded them outward to give Ven a sense of what she meant

"…and have it all make sense to Malcolm."

"Yikes," muttered the teenager as he looked out at all of the employees who were hard at work, solving all the algorithms in their way. "And this is what you do for a living? I thought you just mostly worked with our combat forces?"

"I do. That's what all this is: a bunch of battle data regarding everything that's happened recently, including what's happened to you."

"Including me? You mean all of my battles?"

"Pretty much," Rachel confirmed, smirking as best as she could. "This is the hub for everything like what I showed you at one of our previous meetings where we re-watched one of your encounters with Ragnarok. You know, the one where you actually won."

"Yeah… I won't be forgetting that any time soon…"

Ven continued to stare at all the work that was being done in amazement. Even as an employee of the city, he had never seen and gotten used to everything. He was always telling himself he had, but one new predicament would always shove itself in his way right after another. Even Malcolm told him what this place would look like before he came, and he still was surprised.

'_When am I ever gonna get used to all of this?'_

"Everything stored here is information that contributes to our fights against the Backdraft. We analyze all of their strategies so that we can get a good idea of what they may do next. It's multi-level strategizing, really."

"Not surprising. I guess I'd be dead if it wasn't for all of this, huh?"

Rachel chuckled again before she responded, "Yup. And a lot of what you'll be doing in the future will be based around what we do here. I'm kind of your battle director in a way, if you haven't already figured that out."

"Yeah, I kinda saw that."

Ven moved his eyes from looking all around the room back to looking at the lieutenant. Despite everything that was going on, he was really only looking to spend some casual time with her. Malcolm could only tell him so much and order him around enough before he would decide to take his own breaks, and Rachel didn't mind it. She was largely the same way since most of her work was independent of what the president told her to do. The two were able to find a way to relate to each other that went beyond caretaking.

"But I guess you won't be directing me today, will you?"

"Depends on how crazy you decide to get, but I hope you've learned lessons."

"Yeah… Other than how I got involved in all this, most of my craziness was beyond my control. Life just kept taking turns for the worse."

"Trust me, it never stops doing that, especially once you're one of us. Oh man, the shit you're going to go through while you're some kind of employee! It goes beyond confrontations with the Backdraft as well."

Ven sat himself down on the ground next to her, looking up at her monitor with clueless eyes as he thought about what the next plan of attack would look like in-motion. That was why he had shown up in the first place: to see what it was that Rachel had put together. Aero was supposed to come with him, but he was performing test runs with his zoid. Aero promised he would show up later if he finished soon, but it became clear that he was intent on taking his time. He wanted to take up as much of the day as he could to familiarize himself with his new companion.

"Although, since you're here now, I guess I will show you what you need to see. That's why you even came here today, right?"

The teenager nodded slowly. Unfortunately, the burning sensation from his previous run with Liger Zero had not left his face yet, so concentrating would be difficult. Fortunately, Rachel was also feeling immobile, so they got along.

"In that case, you might wanna stand up instead, just so you can get a better view."

The pilot was adamant, but he got up again. He wanted to get everything over with, just so he could hopefully find a period where he would be able to relax and do nothing.

"So get a good look at this."

Ven narrowed his eyes at the monitor while Rachel closed in and opened up a software that displayed an animated map with flashing and moving dots. It was a high-up view of the entire continent that highlighted where they were, where the closest bases were, and where the supposed location of the Backdraft base was, using the coordinates that were provided to them by the trio that had been captured. Remma was in the middle of the land, while their target was thousands of miles up north from them. It was in a regularly cloudy and hilly area, the reason for why they were never able to find it in the first place.

"Assuming that we have not been lied to, we could reach the Backdraft's base in about a day's or less time once we get our forces ready. We'd have to occupy everything we have in at least ten or so Whale Kings if we want to make sure that we can take them out. Otherwise, we run the risk of having some of our own soldiers captured, and having them share several bits of information regarding our own functionality. As long as we can always keep our inner workings a secret, we'll always be fine."

Red shapes that resembled Whale Kings stemmed from their current location and move towards the Backdraft base. They kept on moving upward until they were just a few hundred miles south of their target. At this point, they proceeded to spread out, creating a circular motion that encircled their target. Their objective was to surround the base so that it would be impossible for it to defend itself.

"This part right here is when the action will be about to commence. At first, we want to stay tightly-packed so that we can defend ourselves in the event that we are somehow discovered. One Whale King may have trouble against a full-on assault. Once we are close enough, we will spread out. Yes, you are probably thinking that our chances of getting attacked increase as we get closer, but the truth is, as we get closer, by the time we could be discovered, we won't be facing a full assault. We will just be facing zoids by the dozens instead since they would be feeling desperate, and they wouldn't have an entire attack force ready yet. One Whale King would be able to defend itself. But none of this trouble should happen given how they are most likely stuck in renovating themselves, since they know that we have the Liger Zero and the Konig Wolf. We would, in a sense, catch them by surprise. Then, we will surround them, land on some of the flatter surfaces around their base, and hit them where it hurts hard! From there on, everything will be history."

Ven went wide-eyed as he listened to her and watched the animation continue itself. Small dots began to spawn out from the Whale Kings and center in on the Backdraft base, with small explosions immediately commencing.

"And you guys put this together this fast?" he asked. To him, it seemed too soon for something like this to have been created.

"It isn't what we would call our 'final product.' We're still taking a careful look at the battle statistics we have seen from them in the past and attempting to see how those could factor into this overall. Plus, Ragnarok may not even be dead for all we know. If he is still alive and with them at the moment, his leadership could pose a problem."

"Well if he is alive, wouldn't we be able to identify him fairly easily? He is their most skilled pilot, after all."

"Well, we never known what to expect from him," she commented, spinning in her seat to look at the teen. "He might be in a zoid, and he might not. He might be there, he might not."

"I still think we'd be able to spot him easily. At least, I would, after seeing him upfront and close…"

Ven grumbled as he remembered when the commander held him at gunpoint, threatening to end his life if he didn't give in to his demands. Because of this memory, the man's image was ingrained in his mind, and it wouldn't leave for a long time. Rachel saw the boy's short pain and allowed her instincts to help soothe him. No matter what, he was still that type of person to her.

"You had a near-death encounter with him, didn't you?" the lieutenant queried. "Sorry to hear that."

"It's fine," Ven said back, snapping out of his minor phase. "It's just one of those things that will help me grow."

"Yeah, it will. At least, I hope it will."

"I hope so, to- WAIT, are you being mean or nice?"

"Both. Mostly nice, though."

Ven stood there trying to figure her out. He never was able to do so. Not when he was younger than Aero, and not right now.

"Do you really have to keep making remarks like those all the time?"

"No, but I'm just speaking the truth. Really, when you're me, you learn to be the regulator among everyone."

Ven looked at her with the same sorry tone she had for him, performing a mood switch.

"Well, you're good at it. Then again, after all this, I guess you would be."

"Uuuuhuh. Anywaaaaaaaayyyyyy, I guess I can count on you and your zoid to know him and when he's around. You've done battle with him and won, so that should eliminate any worries we have about confronting him."

"At least you're calling it 'my zoid,' unlike a certain someone else."

"Just don't get ahead of yourself, Ven. I don't like taking the old man's side, but you don't exactly have property rights to it, either."

''_It…''_

"I know, I know. You didn't have to sound like him for a second, did you?"

"Meh, be a lieutenant who works for him for a living, and you'll come to be like this. It's what you get paid to do, anyway."

"Yeah, but… Whatever. Besides that, I guess I have to keep this whole strategy in mind. Not to sound like an ass, but… it sounds like I get to kick back for a while until we land."

"Yup. You get to watch people like me and Zanzer be miserable while we are counting on you and Aero at the back of our minds. Speaking of which, what's taking him so long?"

"He's doing test runs with the Konig Wolf. He was really excited a couple days ago when I told him it was his choice to do whatever he wants with his zoid, and now he's chosen to practice with it a bit."

"You told him he could do whatever he wants?" Rachel shouted. The whole room stopped what it was doing, while Ven's face turned to complete fear. Everything about her stiffened and rose up, since she saw the wrongs in the permission Ven had given. "You know the sorts of things that a kid like him is determined to do, right? I swear, with his mentality, he could _really_ wreak havoc around here!"

"Relax, he's not _that _out of his mind," the teenager helplessly defended. "He's a pretty decent pilot who knows what he should do and shouldn't. Plus, I think if he went crazy, his zoid would kick in and stop him."

"His zoid would stop him?" At first, Rachel looked confused before she remembered what she had been hearing from Ven, Malcolm, and the others before. "Ooooooohhh, that's right. The whole 'sentience' thing."

"Yeah… By the way, do you even believe me when I tell you that my zoid and his are alive?"

Rachel sat back down in her chair and looked at the map, placing her hands back on her head as she searched for an answer.

"It seems crazy to me, but given that the Liger Zero is as old as it is and is able to function well, I would say that it must have something unique that it allows it to survive like how it has. I can't speak for the Konig Wolf, though."

"Tsk. So you wouldn't even believe me, as one of your most trusted people, if I told you that his zoid was alive as well?"

She breathed heavily before she gave another response: "I guess it's just the grown-up part in me that finds it a bit hard to take in, and even the other bit."

Then she let her hands fall.

"I think I would just have to experience these two zoids for myself," she continued.

"You know how easily that can be done."

"My days off are few and far between. And I don't want to waste my break periods on not taking a break."

"Come on, please?" Ven begged. "You did it for me once when I was once searching for a food place in this area."

"Yeah… Ven, I'll admit, it's a lot easier to be flexible for a little kid who looks like you instead of a teenager who looks like you."

"Okay, okaaayyy. I guess then that anything between us will be strictly about business and work."

"Like I've always said, keep sticking around here, and you'll see why I am the way I am."

"Then I hope these sorts of problems won't be around for long."

"And if we play our parts perfectly in the next few days, they won't be."

Ven took a seat on her table as Rachel glared at him irritatedly. She kept it up to hopefully ward him off, since constantly seeing him right beside her would throw her off while she tried to work.

'_He's getting comfortable really quick, and for someone with his still-growing maturity, that's a problem.'_

However, he stayed, looking right at their plan of attack with a squinted face. The animation replayed itself over and over several times, as if to force its details into his mind. Every bit of what was being shown was precise in its execution. Because of this, he was looking for the small things that might go wrong once the mission began. The minor things, such as a Whale King drifting slightly off-course, or the discovery of a stronger zoid under the Backdraft's influence. Everything was intimidating him, especially since he realized how much rested on the success of this mission.

"You know, as perfect as this seems," he muttered, concentrating his eyes again on the moving Whale Kings, "are we going to take any precautions?"

'_Yeah, he's growing up for sure.'_

"Precautions?" Rachel asked confusedly. "We've set up a few so far. We have all of our emergency transport vehicles being loaded up along with our zoids in case any of the Whale Kings fall. We also intend on significantly beefing up the Whales' armors and weaponry before we set out. Shields are also being currently installed. But don't forget, we're still in the process of adding touches. I've only really just shown you a rough sketch so far."

"I just mean in terms of how we actually approach them, because that's what I'm thinking about. No plan pans out exactly how we think it will. What if we somehow lose communication with one of our Whale Kings, or it turns out their forces are too powerful for us?"

"Again, it's still just a rough sketch. I just thought you should see what I have now."

"Yeah, and I'm glad for that. Just don't forget that they took us hugely surprise with the Konig Wolf, and I have seen that thing in action. Think a bit more about that, because if they manage to come up with something else that powerful and surprise us with it, that could turn everything around."

The lieutenant rolled her eyes, then spun around in her seat. Now she had an understanding as to why he did not have much of a connection with his parents anymore. If she, his ex-caretaker, who only saw him here and there, found it hard to be with him, then how could his parents live with him?

"Of course I'll think about it, but we're mainly concerned about making our move fast. This is what everybody has been waiting for. And by the way, it's still a bit 'out there' for them to have found another strong zoid already. Even if they do have one, we don't know exactly what it could be. It's pretty much impossible to figure out how we'd combat something that we don't know about."

Ven kept on looking at the screen, mulling over even more ideas, before another major one hit him. He couldn't forget his most recent conversation with Liger Zero.

"Well, thing is, after discovering sentient zoids, I have learned that something very 'out there' can have a good chance of showing up. I'm just scared, because if it also turned out that Ragnarok was still out there, and we managed to fail because of his involvement with another zoid, that failure wouldn't be just any other failure. It could possibly do us all in for good."

Rachel listened carefully to what he had to say, and she groaned, but not so much because she might have to do more work. She was groaning at her own new-found fear, at the reality of his words. She found him insightful and annoying at the same time, but the idea of Ragnarok jumping in with something even more powerful perturbed everything. Maybe it would be more powerful than anything they've faced recently, and the Liger Zero and the Konig Wolf wouldn't be able to take it on. Revisions of all sorts would have to made on-the-spot if he made a grandiose appearance. Attack formations would have to be altered, communications could be damaged and disrupted, and so on and so forth. In the worst case scenario, everything would topple. The entire scene would break her down.

"Sorry if I seem like I'm intruding. It's just something that I can't help but think about."

Rachel sighed, feeling the urge to give up as she thought about the various other things she was going to have to think about now before she presented her attack plan to everyone else. There was nothing normal to her about having to factor in the idea that they may face another powerful zoid. She wiped her face and the hair in it out of her way as she looked back at the animation, envisioning the side details that would have to be added to it if she wanted to perfect the plan

"It's alright. I'll tell everyone else in here to think about it too, even though they'll probably be harder to convince than me."

* * *

BANG!

A searing duo of beams pierced through a holographic Godos's core, disabling it until it dissipated. But they didn't stop there as they kept on traveling toward their next collection of targets, consisting of Cannon Tortoises and more Godoses. The line was completely knocked out, and besides the zoid that fired the beams, there was nothing else left.

"YAY," touted an ecstatic Aero as the cockpit's hatch opened. He reveled in the glistening sun, allowing the whole world to know about the passing of his now daily trial run. It was a circuit of zoids and courses for him to plow through that Midnight thought would suit them best as they prepared for the worst. She wanted to get things going with him right away, and he agreed to do so due to his own excitement. "WE DID IT!"

_Haha. Yes, Aero, we did._

"And we should keep doing it again and again!"

_Maybe tomorrow. I think I've had my fair share for the day._

"Oh. Okay."

Then suddenly, rows upon rows of stationary turrets began to circle around them. They were holographic as well, but they still posed a threat to the score that Aero was hoping to achieve.

"There's more? Isn't this where it usually ends?"

_Always stay on your toes_, Midnight informed, despite her own confusion alongside his. Then she remembered Aero telling her that these tests can change without any prior notice. She brought the hatch down for his safety, and also to ready him for combat.

"I can see that, Midnighty."

_So do you know what to do?_

Aero's face strained itself as it looked around to see if there were any possible solutions to his problem. With the way everything was set up around them, he was in a position where movement was tight. He could barely twist the wolf without looking straight into another turret. However, even with the small space, he still was able to find one complex pathway that would lead him out into the open. They would have to continuously swerve through and in-between the guns with little unintentional maneuvering if they wanted to stay untouched and get a perfect score. With luck, despite the high-level artificial intelligence implanted in the holograms, some of them would shoot each other, allowing for even less problems to be facing their way.

Now was the time for action.

"Yup, Midnighty, I do!"

The preteen slightly shifted her to the left before he forced her to take off, narrowly dodging the bullets that flew behind her. They went past the first row of turrets before making a sharp right and beaming forward again, just in time to dodge another barrage. Then they made another tight left, repeating the same tactics until they got out of the danger zone. Because of the Konig Wolf's only adequate agility, it was much slower in making its turns, but with precise controlling, complicated movements could be performed at the expense of damaging some of the stabilizers over time. Luckily, there weren't that many rows to maneuver through, so they would still be able to perform normally in a future one-on-one round. Meanwhile, several of the turrets had already taken damage from each other, easing the rest of the disposal as Aero had hoped.

Zooming past the last row, Aero kept Midnight running so as to keep them safe from the turrets' auto-targeting systems. At a far away distance, they couldn't be tracked, giving them the time they needed to turn back around without straining Midnight's body. A moment later, they had a good view of the holograms searching around confusedly. The weapons were helplessly trying to find out where they had gone, but were unable to locate anything.

_Nicely done, Aero._

"Thanks!"

But he had no intention of reveling in applause again. Instead, he yanked his steers towards him, then pushed them back in twice. Another second, and his seat had shifted, and he was laying on his belly with eyepieces directly in front of his face. Everything looked to have a tint of orange with a circular reticule in the middle of everything. With this, he altered Midnight's positioning so that she was looking straight at the turret in the middle of the rest. Once he felt comfortable about his aim, he began charging the dischargers to maximum output, knowing that the force of the blasts would disable everything they didn't hit.

_That's right, you're definitely getting smarter._

"Oh, I know, hehe," Aero greedily laughed as he let go of the triggers and felt the reverberation of the shots firing out. They traveled swiftly towards their targets, plowing through everything again without leaving any of them in sight. Some of the turrets just disappeared, while others had an animation to suit what was happening as they melted away. From what the pair could tell, they looked like ashes, and this made them happier than anything. With their current victory, they were confident that they could finally now rest.

"Yes, we did it!"

_We most certainly did!_

Aero's seat shifted back to its normal position as his cockpit's hatch opened again. No more holograms popped up, allowing them what they desired. At this point, the pilot decided to copy his brother and use Midnight's controls as a footrest while he folded his hands behind his head and slid into his chair. He looked up into the bright blue sky, feeling the sunlight reflect on him.

"Ahhhhh, this feels good."

_Again, I'd like to say, you're getting better._

"Yeah, I know… Man, why do you always sound so serious?"

_Serious? What do you mean?_

"You barely laugh or anything. I know you're something ancient, but c'mon! At least Bro's zoid seems to have fun."

_I… Egh…_

'_This whole thing is gonna be a lot more difficult than I thought,'_ the wolf self-commented, _'and I think a large part of it has to do with me.'_

_Well, we can have fun knowing that we passed this test, right?_

"No, no, no, no, no, no," bellowed Aero, switching positions so that he was bending over the edge of the cockpit and looking into Midnight's eye. "Why youuuuuuuuuu… Grrr. I mean just like fwiends. Jokes'n'stuff."

_Uhhhhh, yeeaaahhhhh…_

Upon hearing her pilot's further complaining, she stopped reacting at all. This irritated Aero even more, to the point where a translucent red bruise mark was showing up next to his eyes. He was annoyed more than he had ever been in a long time. She was actually ignoring him? How dare she! Then, Midnight lowered her head…

…before quickly thrusting it back up again, tossing Aero high up into the air as he shrieked loud enough to where birds were flying out of their trees in the distance.

"What the? WHAT THE, WHAT THE, WHAT THE, WHAT THE? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! VEN, HEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPPP!"

He reached an altitude of about thirty feet above her before he began to fall back down. Because of the trajectory at which he was thrown, he was heading towards the sand in front of the zoid instead of back under his hatch. Once he noticed this, his screaming grew even louder, and it continued until he felt something clamp down on the back of his shirt. Even then, his voice only dimmed, instead of shut off.

"AHHHHHHHHHH… Waaaaiiiiiiittttttt… Whhhhhaaaaattttttt?"

He noticed that he was no longer moving, and thought of only one thing that could have happened: Midnight threw him up in the air with the intent of catching him as he fell down. This was her idea of a joke and having fun.

"Are you serious?"

_You said you wanted to have fun, didn't you?_

"Fun? My life flashed! RARARARARARARARA," Aero screamed again, wriggling to try to break free.

_Really? This isn't fun?_

He started to calm down until he realized it wasn't over. Just then, he felt a sudden jolt to his side, and Midnight was flinging him this-way-and-that-way like how a dog does with a chew toy, only slower. His noise continued.

"YOOOOUUUUUU'RRRRREEEEEEEEE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! !"

Then she threw him back into the air, where he eventually landed safely back in his seat, shaken.

_I used to do this with someone else before. I hope you don't mind._

"I doooooooo, MAAAAANNNNNNN," he yelled from inside her. He looked around perplexingly, trying to figure out what had just happened. Every bit of him was still registering the past few minutes.

_Well… That sucks!_

Aero opened his mouth as he was about to say more to her. He was chilled by his zoid, even though he looked ready for more action because of it. He was ready to throw her another complaint, but a beeping sound stopped at him. It sucked away all of his attention as he heard it from above him.

"What was that?"

Midnight forced the cover above him to shut down in case the sound was an alert for an emergency. In front of him, he could see a flashing image that read "TRANSMISSION INCOMING".

Normally, if someone was trying to reach someone else in a zoid, their image would just automatically pop up. However, Aero did not always want to see a person's face, so he had set it to manual. But in this instance, if someone was trying to contact him while he was performing test runs, then it had to be something important.

He tapped the message on his screen and watched as Ven's most serious look displayed.

"You doing alright out there?" Aero hated this question and looked at him annoyingly.

"No, I'm dead," he muttered sarcastically. "I was practicing, Bro."

"I know, I know, and you hate me calling you, I know. And I kinda hate it, too."

"Fair and square!"

"You don't gotta have attitude, do you?"

"I was practicing."

"Yes, I kn- GRAGH, I can't do this with you. You're just how you are."

Aero kept his narrowed expression with slightly-sticking-out lips as his streaked hair began to fall down in front of his face. Even to Ven, it was a scary expression. It symbolized that reasoning was far-fetched with the young pilot.

"Anyway, I guess all has been going well?"

"I've passed all my tests."

"Good!"

"And I did it without you."

"Good!"

"And I'm glad I did."

"That's…good!"

"It's hella awesome."

"Good! Yeah, it's… Wow, you say things like that now?"

"Yup, I do."

"Amazing."

"Damn right it is."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"Yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"YEAH!"

"OKAY," Ven backed off defensively, waving his hands as his brother put on an even sharper expression. "Are you still doing more tests, though?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe… Okay."

_Maybe?_

"Maybe."

"Anyway… I was just calling you to tell you that we all have something that we want to go over with everybody else really soon, and that it would be great if you could… come back whenever you can."

"I will."

"Okay, then… that's great! Just let us know when you're coming back."

"I will."

"Yay."

"Yay."

"Then I'll see you whenever!"

"You too."

The teenager's face disappeared, leaving the two of them alone again as Aero relaxed in his seat, doing what he had initially been meaning to do.

_We're doing more testing?_ Midnight asked. She, too, wanted a break from the day's work, but it was ultimately up to her pilot if that happened. He initiated the exams, not her.

"No, we're not. But Ven annoys me, so we'll chill'n'stuff out here for a while."

_Okay…_

Midnight felt her own sort of sweat drop falling down as she tried to figure her pilot out.

'_He's as complex as me. Maybe it's because he's young. But…what does that make me?'_

The two of them resided where they were, pondering everything that was and everything that would be. They shone under their calmness, and only spoke to each other here and there. Midnight kept trying to get him to talk, but all she ever got as a response response were brief answers or comments. For now, her pilot decided to be silent, something of which she had to respect. As someone now taking a huge responsibility, he would be however he would be. She would put up with a lot of his decisions, no matter if they seemed contradictory.

'_I'll work things out with him somehow…'_

* * *

Aero, Ven, Rachel, Zanzer, Thomas, and Malcolm had all gathered in a board room for a meeting, along with an entire regime of the Commission's top corporate CEOs, military commanders, and strategists. Each of the meeting participants had taken a seat around a large rectangular table, with the president at one end of it while the secretary of defense was at the other. The table itself was made out of a smooth grey metal alloy that had a hologram monitor built into the middle of it, while the rest of the room carried a complimentary feel by looking dusted and clean. The walls were darker in their shade, having computers implanted into them so as to help display everyone's future plans. Everything was laid out in a fashion that would make everything accessible to whoever needed something.

By this point, nearly everybody was sitting down, except for both Ven and Aero. The two of them were trying to find a place in which both of them could sit next to each other. They figured this would be best since they figured a large chunk of the information that would be shared would pertain to them, so staying nearby would help keep things more organized. After a while, one of the men moved over, seeing what it was they wished for. Malcolm had been waiting patiently for them before he began the exchange.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen. It has been a while since we all met in one room together."

Everybody fixed their stares loosely on the president, all of them taking quick glances at each other at the same time to reacquaint themselves with everyone else in the room. Malcolm saw this and grinned.

"We haven't met since nearly a year ago after we were attacked by…the Backdraft Group."

Everyone paid more attention to him at the sound of his last few words. Some of them began to ready the notepad functions on their laptops, while others simply intensified their looks.

"Since then, we've been having some hard times. Given their morale and their mission statements, this should have been expected. They're a crime group who targets our weakest side: our workforce."

The president paused before he continued, preparing himself for the speech he was about to give.

"I do not think I need to go into much detail about this part. We've been having dangerously high unemployment rates, all of which have increased ever since our incident with them last year. They hit our zoid facilities and are responsible for severe property damage that has been dealt to the headquarters' of several of our companies. Thus, layoffs have been occurring left and right, while other organizations have closed down completely. Our resource management has become scattered, and it is still in the process of being fixed, even as we sit here discussing what we should do next."

Everybody in the room remained silent, reminding themselves of all the past occurrences, while the younger participants were keeping their heads low. The mention of the city's unemployment situation made Ven and Aero think back on their family, allowing the memories of what their parents looked like to come back to them. They remembered being told that they could not buy this or that as a gift after so many years of having things such as their own computers, and even having the promise of obtaining a future zoid. Now, as they listened to the meeting, the bigger picture began to sink in.

"It has even reached a point to where we have hired some of our hostages ourselves," the old man went on, looking around at the people in front of him who were surprised by what they heard. This was news to many of them, some of them shifting in their seats. Just like Ven and Rachel before, they each had a look of discomfort, but much less drastic. Even the two of them themselves made the same movements. "I know, I know, that sounds ludicrous, but it is something that we will ultimately benefit from, which I will get to later on. For now, before we discuss anything major, we need to establish ourselves and who we are. Let us start that by getting to know exactly who each of us is."

Malcolm looked to his right where a chunky woman with shoulder-length brown hair in a black and white suit looked back at him and smiled, making eye contact with everyone else and introducing herself. She was Emily Nasson, owner and founder of Zoidian Inc., a company that focuses on manufacturing and delivering zoid parts while also spreading its resources to smaller fashion organizations that base their trends on the latest zoids. After her was Matt Jung, who informed everyone that he was the CEO of ZBN, the intials for Zoid Battle Network. It was the main TV show in the city, as well as in several places around the globe, since its duty was to display the latest sanctioned zoid battles in a TV format across multiple stations.

The rest of the attendees were then introduced, each one sharing their personal details about who they were and what they did. They were split in half by some being members of the Commission's Armed Forces, while others being big business leaders that helped manage the city. Once it came around to Zanzer being introduced, the formalities became more direct towards Malcolm and less towards the accompanying attendants. It wasn't until the brothers got to speaking that the attention began to surround around one person again.

Even as the two of them spoke, all of the faces in the room looked in with puzzlement. It was the same expression those who were closer to them had when they first realized who the two kids would be. Some of them even laughed. Malcolm couldn't completely help himself either.

"Good. Now that we're all familiar with each other, let's get down to business. Today, we hope to effectively respond to our economic difficulties with a strong and precise goal. What will that goal be? At this point, I'd like to bring our attention back to Ms. Rachel."

The president extended his hand out to the lieutenant as she acknowledged his gesture and pulled out her laptop. She put on her gloves and watched as the holographic screen displayed in front of her. Followed by this, the projector in the middle of the table powered on, showcasing a bright blue and green spinning globe that represented Planet Zi. Everyone at the table gasped, most of which haven't seen anything like it.

"Once again, hello everyone," Rachel announced, trying her best to pay attention to every individual person while she centered her concentration on her monitor. "As the president has said, we have a goal in mind that, with careful execution, should restore most everything back to the way it was. It involves a coordinated effort from all of us, including finding a way to get all of our resource management teams to work together. Despite our economic state, we'd have to get them all to become a group, and the reason for this is the same reason for why we have this display up."

Red whale-shaped icons generated on the display, hovering over the location of Remma. They generated, then dispersed, creating a circular clump that was hovering slowly towards the top of the map before a black dot appeared directly above them. It was a symbol for where the Backdraft Group was located, flashing with stark contrast so as to illuminate itself. They stared in awe, some of them nearly drooling at the information they had been waiting years for. There was nothing more that they wanted.

"What you are seeing now is a demonstration of what the president was referencing. Many of you can see the new location we have just found, which is where the The Count himself resides: the Backdraft Group's base. The location of all of their inner workings. We have obtained this information through some of their pilots whom we have captured and have hired. We are hoping to have their continued cooperation, but that is besides the point. Yes, we have put them through lie detector tests, and are able to conclude that the information they have given us is accurate. However, we will still bring them with us in what will be…our attack, to ensure that everything goes well."

Rachel tapped her display multiple times until the animation continued. Ven was narrowing his eyes, watching as the red icons kept on moving forward. He was making sure that 'precautions' were made.

"For this, I have put together a strategy that I would like to go through with the rest of you. For everyone who is in the military that is here, I will need you to pay close attention so that I can get your input on this. First, we will launch a group of about sixteen Whale Kings to go en route towards the base. We will stay together to make sure that we still have all of our preparations in-tact. Once we are about halfway there, we will begin to split up and attempt to set up a formation where we will be able to circle around the base and effectively trap our enemies. A total of eight of our Whale Kings will be needed for this. The additional eight will slow down and make an effort to stay at least one hundred miles and no less than two hundred behind the first group, while still circling around. The second group will be there to supply additional coverfire in case the others are not able to complete the task, or in the situation that a wave of Backdraft zoids manages to break out. The first group will be what we load up with our ground forces. With this, we have a chance of being detected, but it will not matter as long as we set up correctly. We will also have aerial support flying with us, but we must be careful not to let them out too early, otherwise we risk burning up too much fuel."

The animation played out everything she detailed. The Whale Kings set up in their appropriate positions with several smaller icons hovering around them. These represented the aerial zoids that would be dispatched, assisting them in case of an emergency. If anything went wrong, they would be there to clear out the issues.

"We must also take note of the mountains that are around them. Luckily, they are not very steep, so our forces should not have an issue traveling on them. The zoids that reach the top of them will have to be long-ranged and heavy artillery, because they will likely be the first ones noticed, and must be able to attack the enemies once spotted. The openings in the ranges are where we will send our more agile zoids. Among them will be the Liger Zero and our newest zoid, the Konig Wolf. With the artillery being targeted first, these groups should act as to provide a surprise attack. The first line of Whale Kings will also support the artillery to ensure our numbers do not take a substantial hit."

Several more icons displayed on the globe and homed in on the center of the black dot. At this, Ven was grinning, happy to know that changes overall have been made, as well as happy to know that the plan had been developed further.

"Once everything is in full-swing, a select few of our Gunsipers will travel down the mountains and head straight for the Backdraft's headquarters. These zoids will be specially painted with a bright white shade so that we will know who to look out for amongst the fire. Once they have closed in, their pilots will dispatch themselves and break inside the building to capture The Count. This will have to be a trained commando unit in order to make sure that this works. Our commanders will radio them to give them the signal to infiltrate as soon as they deem it safe to do so. It would be best to do this once the enemy numbers have dwindled a bit, but not once they are all gone. The reason for this is to ensure their safety, while giving them enough time to reach their target so that The Count cannot escape before we reach him. Even if he does somehow manage to take to the air, we will be able to shoot him down with ease, but it would be best for us to take him alive for obvious reasons."

The area around the dot began to flash with multiple colors, showing the intensity of the battle that would take place. Rachel paused the animation at this point, looking up at everyone else in the room. She focused most of her eyesight on the military leaders in the room.

"At this point, are there any questions? I know that I am a trusted lieutenant, but I feel it's best to make sure that everyone else in here approves of my demonstration."

Chatter began going around the room, with the commanders being the loudest of the bunch. Everybody was still trying to remember everything that was just discussed and were clarifying with each other that they had heard things correctly. The plan was a long process that had been squeezed down into only a few minutes, with a lot of it being information that didn't pertain to all of them. They all had questions about what was ultimately going to happen, but it was the two young pilots in the room that they wanted to know the most about.

"I have a question," spoke up one of the commanders. He was a tanned, heavyset man with dirty grey hair who wore a black suit with golden badges decorated all over his chest and stomach area, as well as a few on top of his arms.

"Yes, go ahead," Rachel assured. She gulped. He leaned forward and held his hands together on the table.

"Currently, I am well-aware of who the owners of the Liger Zero and the Konig Wolf are. I am also well-aware of what they have done for us, but I have to know how well they would function as part of a large group. Many of our men would look at them and probably see them as their leaders due to the power that they control. Or, others would become jealous, and that in itself could cause problems in regards to how things are carried out. Because of these things, how confident are you that everything will go as planned? Perhaps it would be best if we left them out of this?"

The last bit caused some in the room to catch their breath. The idea of commencing a large-scale attack without using their most revered pilots was unbelievable to them. Even Malcolm found it surprising, but he left his thoughts to Rachel. Ven was just hoping that she could speak up for him and his brother.

"I understand how you feel," she replied, "but doing that would be risky. We've asked ourselves about whether they could possibly have another powerful zoid or not, and if that proves to be the case, then these two would be our only hope against it, so they must come in case of an emergency. That, plus, with pilots of their caliber, the first phase of our attack has a good chance of going by much quicker, which allows for our commando unit to reach their target faster. Overall, their presence benefits us. As far as their relationship with everyone else goes, they are strong people who do not let others take advantage of them. I know this since I have known them for quite a while, both during the time they have served us and even before that. And even if disputes did occur between them and the other pilots, it is my belief that…"

She stuttered, taking quick glances at Thomas, Zanzer, and Malcolm before she continued. As soon as they saw her make eye contact with them, they knew what she was about to say, and it would cast a strange light on all of them.

"…as well as the belief of Zanzer, Thomas, and the president that the two of them have a connection of sorts with their zoids that would make it hard for any sort of violence to occur between them and our other soldiers. If such a thing did take place, their zoids would likely act as guardians at some point and defend them. It sounds incredulous, I know, but this has actually happened previously on a few occasions. You need only ask Ven and Aero themselves, or you can even ask the other three I have mentioned."

"So you mean to tell me that there is some sort of-"

"Wait, are you talking about the organoid system that is supposedly inside the Liger Zero?" interrupted another man. He was the commander's assistant, a completely grey-haired man who came dressed in a similar uniform, but with less badges and a few silver ones. "Do you also mean to tell us that the Konig Wolf has one as well?"

"That is something that we have not conducted extensive research into yet, due to how busy we have been with trying to manage everything. We've still been assembling our forces, and even upgrading our zoids as we speak, thanks to the fear that has been instilled from the most recent attacks on us."

"So in other words, we still do not have a clue as to how stable it really is?"

"We have been doing simulations with it lately, and so far, it has worked for us fine."

"Yes, but…since this is supposed to be another zoid with an organoid system, which, unlike the Liger Zero, we have no idea what its history is, shouldn't we be looking more into it before we decide to use it in combat?"

Rachel grimaced, switching between looking at the commander and his assistant to looking at Aero's whimpering face, and then back. She couldn't stand his expression, but it managed to instill a lot of faith in how he and the Konig Wolf could work together.

"All I can say is that it could possibly be an even bigger risk to not bring it with us. I have mentioned the possibility of a stronger zoid on the Backdraft's zoid, and, like I said earlier, the Konig Wolf and its pilot here supposedly have a connection that lets them work well with each other. In this situation, you would just have to trust us."

Both of the men in front of her rested their chins on their hands conceringly. They saw a point to what she said, but they were still worried.

"So are there any more questions?"

There was no verbal response as everybody shook their heads.

"No? Alright then, let's continue."

The lieutenant tapped on her monitor to allow the demonstration to continue. The only change was watching one of the Whale Kings move inwards toward the action.

"Once we have The Count captured, the commando unit will radio back to our commanders. After this, we will have one of our Whale Kings release Redlers that will also be painted white. They will be on autopilot so as to allow for enough space inside for three people. This means that one of them will have to carry two pilots and The Count himself. The unit will then control the zoids on Manual and head back to the closest Whale King to lessen the chances of being shot down. Once our main objective has been completed, the rest of our forces will take out whatever remains of the Backdraft's defenses. After that, we will have the rest of the citizens and soldiers there placed under arrest for treason. We will move them into our Whale Kings, and whatever happens from there will have to be figured out later once we see how everything else has gone. We may even contemplate bringing additional Whale Kings just to have more room for them."

Rachel breathed a sigh of relief, having finished the most stressful part of her day. She looked back up at everyone else with casual eyes, hoping that she would not have to perform anymore debriefing for a while.

"And that right there is the mission in a nutshell. Are there still no more questions?" She was hoping there wouldn't be anymore, but there was.

"Actually, I have one myself," Emily Nasson mentioned. However, she was not looking at Rachel. "But this one is not for you, my dear. Instead, this one is for the president."

Everybody's attention shifted again. Rachel made another sigh.

"Mr. President, after all these men and women have been placed under arrest, I am curious to know how long their terms will be. The reason I am curious is because if they are eventually allowed to live among us again, that means that many of them will be obtaining working jobs under us. They will have access to our resources, something of which deeply concerns me given what the purpose of my company is. I am sure that Mr. Jung is bothered by this as well."

"I understand your worry," the old man responded, waiting a moment before he directly answered her question. "I do, because you are all valuable to us. But what exactly happens to them is something that I will have to leave up to the Court ruling system. Not all of them have been severe towards us, so I feel that those people deserve a second chance. Some of them just fell victim to things that were beyond their control. Others, however, who have committed fraudulence and other crimes will be placed under a varying sentence. It all depends on exactly what they did."

"Are you sure about this, Mr. President?" This time, she didn't hide anything with a rising voice. "There are a lot of things to consider here, which I am sure you know. If any of them plan to turn on us again while they have a job with us, that could prove to be disastrous."

"They would know that attempting to rebel again in their condition would be foolish. If they couldn't win when they were at their strongest, how could they win when they're among us? Do not forget that Zanzer here has done an excellent job in keeping security around here tighter than ever during the past few months. The amount of criminals we have caught has surged dramatically."

"Yes, but many of them are most likely skilled tacticians."

"We have caught many a psychopath in some of our higher ranks. There is nothing to fear, Mrs. Nasson. Plus, knowing that these people will be among us, our security will just naturally strengthen even moreso by itself. Some of it will probably even engage in police brutality behind our backs. Not that I condone this, since I am completely against it, but such has a very high chance of happening, and that would take care of what you're concerned about."

"I…hope so," she stumbled, still looking irritated.

"I know, so don't worry."

Meanwhile, as the chatter between everybody continued, Ven and Aero were looking at each other from time-to-time. Even though Ven had heard earlier about what they were planning on doing, it wasn't until now, while surrounded by all of the highest ranked people in the city, did his instincts of fear start to kick in.

'_I am actually going to be a part of the end of the Backdraft Group very soon,'_ he dwindled in his mind, _'and it might be complicated if I can't get along with everyone else. So far, it has always been just me and one other person, but now it's for real. This whole thing is a war.'_

Aero looked back at his older brother with a drooping face, feeling just as bad as him. Ven looked back at him as well.

'_And it's even worse for him. He's still technically a little kid to everyone else. Oh Eve, I hope this all goes well…'_

And that would be his plea for several more days, until the time would actually arrive…

* * *

Ragnarok sat in his wheelchair in his room, looking out at the dark cloudy sky that had only a small ray piercing through it. To others, it was just something to make their day easier. It made their normal days warmer, and it made things easier to see. It was something that they rarely talked about. But to him, it was a symbol of his hope for achievement. To him, it was a new beginning.

'_I wonder where we should start… Who knows what's happening on Malcolm's end, so we need to act fast. That is unless a certain someone…'_

WHAM!

The sound of his room's door's knockback ended his daydreaming, but it didn't surprise him. A few feet behind him stood a bald man with tired green eyes. His hand was on the door against the wall, with a look of determination that quieted everything. Ragnarok smirked.

"Should I say I've been expecting you?" the commander guessed.

"You definitely should."

The seething man gradually walked up behind Ragnarok, only coughing as he approached.

"Well then I will."

He spun his wheelchair around with his eyes closed, opening them as he greeted, "I've been expecting you, Cou-"

He stopped right when he felt knuckles collide with his jaw. The blow pushed him sideways and nearly caused him to tip over. Due to his training, he was able to regain his balance quickly, and was able to raise his own hand up in order to stop another hit before it connected, but he was still slightly off-balance.

"I thought I had made myself clear when I promoted Velvet to your position. With who you are now, you have no right to your own agenda! You listen to her, and you listen to ME!"

"Hmmm, I guess I'm a problem then…"

A bruise was showing signs of coloring itself below his lips, but it didn't stop him from talking. His only sign of pain was a slight grimace, adding a slight rasp to his tone.

"You've always had a penchant for understating things in front of me sometimes, Ragnarok. But this time, it means NOTHING!"

"Oh, but it actually does," Ragnarok slyly muttered, swiftly twisting his head to look back at The Count. It was an act that hid his stress, but he knew he had to keep it up if he wanted to win an argument against his own boss. Because of this, his dark blue eyes met the green ones with fearlessness.

"Is that so?"

"You have no idea."

"So now you're even trying to act like the Top Commander again? You need to know your place!"

"I've learned my place just fine. It just isn't quite what you thought it was."

"Oh, I have some idea of it, and it doesn't involve starting your own alliances. You're just a regular commander now, and nothing more until you can prove your superior usefulness to us again!"

"Then may I be allowed to do that?"

"What?" The Count was taken aback. No one has ever spoken back to him so easily. Not ever.

"I asked you if I may be able to prove my usefulness to you again. Can I?" Ragnarok made a point of raising the pitch of his tone, just to make himself sound sweeter.

"So now you think you can just puppydog your way through everything again like you did the first time? You used your pathetic family for that back then, so what do you plan on using this time, hmm?"

Ragnarok shook his head at the personal comment. Deep down, he hated The Count for it, but he still did his best to keep up his strong image. If he wanted to make a point to him, he had to stay poised.

"What do I plan on using?"

He reached into his coat to pull out the notepad he had been flipping through a few hours ago. It was closed with the title page on the front to keep the words written in it from getting smeared or damaged.

"This," Ragnarok finished.

"A notepad? You expect to convince me with just a few notes you've taken?"

"It's not from me. It's from one of our archaeologists who was performing research on the Konig Wolf when we first attempted to extract it."

"Really now?" The Count relaxed himself and let his hand down. Ragnarok did the same with his defending arm. "And it's supposed to switch my mind around?"

"I would say so. In fact, lot of what is in it is what fuels what I am currently doing. It would help the things that are going on make sense to you."

The bald man stared at him, snarled, and snatched the notepad out of his hands, opening it up to the first page. Ragnarok grinned again, confident that Xavier's information was everything he needed in order to take control.

"I get the feeling that it will be your archaeologist that I will like more than anything, not you," The Count added.

"Maybe so."

The two of them stayed quiet for a while, giving The Count enough time to read through it. At first, he had the same annoyed personality that he always had. Nothing was moving him, not even some of the things that had caught Ragnarok's attention. A lot of the commander's initial excitement had to do with the fact that he, as a commander, was able to interpret much of the zoids-related information in it that meant nothing to his boss. He saw how he could carry out things. However, The Count didn't begin to feel the same way until he flipped through a few more pages. Everything else just made him narrow his eyes, while now he was beginning to fidget in his spot with both joy and anger, but the latter ended up taking over again.

"GRAAAAHHH, this is all bullshit," he yelled, tossing the notepad against the wall. Ragnarok's eyes grew wide, and his instincts kicked in, causing him to jump up out of his wheelchair in order to grab it. He didn't know what came over the enraged man in front of him, but he knew the information was too valuable in order for him to allow damage to be done to it.

"Bullshit?" Ragnarok immediately returned to his chair to keep his leg from aching more. "In my experience, I know that this is everything that we need!"

"Everything that we need? IT'S BULLSHIT! A connection between the Konig Wolf and the Berzerk Fuhrer, are you kidding me? You even lost one of them, and now you're gonna go on some escapade to find the other? That thing is DEAD, and you and I have seen the clip of it being defeated countless times! It was part of what we fucking used to train you and everyone of our other goddamn soldiers in what to look out for during combat! Now you're just gonna try to tell me that that is something fake when it is documented everywhere? YOU'RE FULL OF IT! And if you go through with this, then you are going to waste numerous resources that would be better spent elsewhere!"

"Elsewhere? Like?"

"Like the…like the…like… GRRRRRRRRR…"

The bald man turned his back to Ragnarok and stormed out of the room once again, unable to put anything he was thinking into words. This shocked the commander, as he was hoping the notes would turn him over to his side, but he couldn't tell if they had worked or not. Was The Count just in a bad mood? Or did he mean everything he just said?

"Under our own private law," The Count began again, "I cannot do anything more to you at this moment. However, if you DO actually take action, then I will terminate you and exile you, and you will be done for while you're not under my wing anymore. And you can go look for what remains of your family!"

The slammed again, this time in the opposite direction. Ragnarok just stared. Then he growled, unable to take a second jab at his personal life.

'_Really? Then I'll have to just SHOW you what I can do. I'm the one who currently has the largest support around here anyhow. You've only been treating me like shit anyway, so now it'll be time for some payback…'_

* * *

__**Update:** If you read Gojiralee's review after having finished this, please note that this chapter has been updated since then. Thank you.


	21. Rivalries Formed

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters (excluding Midnight and Aero) and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**Rivalries Formed**

"DIE! DIE! DIE!"

Aero was sweating as he was lying down on his stomach within Midnight, aiming her dischargers at the hologram zoids from afar as they spawned. The sweat was soaking his clothes, a sign of his determination to do the best he could. He was training himself harder to prepare himself for the upcoming invasion that would be launched within a few weeks, pushing himself to the limits. It was going to take time for everything to get sorted out, so he kept himself and Midnight on the testing grounds, day in and day out. It was her wish as well, with no arguments between them.

"_Keep it up, Aero! You're getting better at this!"_

Beam waves were blowing out from the wolf's cannons by the seconds. The dischargers were shooting fast and accurately enough to where the holograms couldn't be seen. They were only smoke, a sight of which they couldn't take their eyes off of. This issued them to slow down the action in case they were damaging anything that was surrounding them, so they began to calm down. Once they did, they watched the smoke blow upward with pride. Midnight howled out loud to show her joy, and looked at it again, because it was a symbol of their success, and it was coupled with the 'test complete' notification Aero typically received. He reverted his seat as Midnight brushed herself off, cheering to himself again. Midnight chuckled, because she had anticipated his reaction.

"We did it again!"

"_Indeed we did! What's our score this time?"_

"Hmmm, our score…it's…"

Aero waited for his test results to display on his screen. He kept waiting and waiting for them to pop up. He waited even longer, and started counting to himself when he thought they would show. But, they never did. This annoyed him greatly, so much so that he starting looking through the data of his other tests to see if he had missed something. When results display, they stay on for twenty seconds until they disappear as logged information to be researched later. If they were gone quickly, it was because the pilot had accidentally selected on his screen for the results to be stored away, or there was a glitch. Aero was not pleased with this, and kept searching through his records to see if he could locate them.

"_It's what?"_

Then Aero stopped what he was doing. He dropped his jaw, and his mouth and eyes went wide with shock as he watched the 'test complete' notification vanish from his screen. He had forgotten about how the tests could fool you. However, he also knew seeing the text disappear meant something was wrong. The young pilot kept looking at his screen with the same feeling, because he had never seen what he just saw.

"Yo, sorry about that," chimed in another voice as a transmission popped up on Aero's screen. It was Ven himself, and now Aero was more irritated than ever.

"Wait, _you_ did this?!" yelled Aero.

"Well, I was hoping for this part to occur later, but I have some work I gotta do in an hour, so I thought I'd intervene now."

"Intervene? WHAT THE HELL?"

"Yeah," Ven stuttered, rubbing his hand against the back of his head as he innocently smiled. "I thought I'd make my entrance a bit more grand later on, just to test you out, but now I've kinda gotta force it, you know?"

"You're confusing me like nothing else, bro."

"Oh, don't worry. Just watch this."

The transmission disappeared, leaving Aero and Midnight by themselves as they looked around to try to figure out what the older pilot had meant. Aero's aggression levels were bottling up since he didn't get the chance to expend them. Normally, he would message his brother right back when he was as angry as he was now, but he held back. Midnight had been teaching him to control his emotions in the face of others, so he didn't react.

Both of them felt bothered as they kept searching around themselves, until the Konig Wolf heard something above her. She looked towards the source of the sound and turned around to look up at the sky.

_Is that… Wow, I guess they would do that._

Aero zoomed in on the clouds, watching as an object was falling down. He kept looking further in on them to get a better look at what it was, and as soon as he identified the object, he tensed himself, snarling with even more frustration.

"Are you serious? A judge capsule?!"

The white shuttle was shooting towards the ground, aiming for the wide open area among the hills located behind their sniping spot. It plummeted into its rendezvous point, right when Aero saw another target walking towards him from far away. Only this one wasn't a hologram. It was a feline type zoid, with red armor and blue blades on its sides. Ven's transmission popped up again.

"Howdy. 'Thought I'd spice up your tests by giving you a REAL one."

Aero stared blankly at his brother. A sanctioned zoid battle could only take place if both of the competitors agreed to it. Aero never received any news of this.

"Yeah, but…how did you-"

"You left your ZBN account online on the laptop you were last using. Besides, you always gotta be prepared for anything, right?"

The younger brother kept staring. His eyes didn't move, and they were even shaking.

"Hey, why the long look?" Ven queried, creeped out by his sibling's quietness. "There's a first time for everything, right? And this time is logical."

"You…you…used…used my account?!"

"Yeah. That makes this kind of a test for you, doesn't it? Surprise attacks, brother. Though, not technically, since I spoke to you beforehand…"

Aero tightened his grip to where his steers ended up suffering small indentations. His whole body was shaking, and Midnight grunted. She was displeased with the situation, but also uncomfortable with her pilot's attitude.

_Aero, it's fine. He's right in a sense. There's no need to lose it. And besides, I'm really interested in seeing what his zoid has to offer, especially with that funky armor of his._

"Ok…" the tensed pilot muttered, "Anyway, _Ven_…"

"Woah, you haven't addressed me that seriously in a while."

"Ven…" Aero was beginning to breathe hard. "You used my account. For that…"

He brought his hands together and stretched his fingers.

"…I'm hella taking you down."

"Ha, I know. Didn't really matter either way, though, unless you wanted a forfeit on your records," Ven teased as he smiled.

Aero's screen cleared, allowing him to see the resting Judge Capsule up ahead of him. His narrowed eyes showed his battle psyche, a side Midnight could sense and was growing fond of. It was what she had been waiting for, and put faith in what she believed he could do when the times called. Because of this, she walked up closer to her opponent, looking Liger in the eye.

'_Finally, a challenge. I've been needing a real one for a while now. Hopefully this will help get us ready for what's coming up. Oooohhhh, attacking the Backdraft Group and that commander of there's, ooooooooh…'_

The Konig Wolf howled in her own excitement again, noticing Liger Zero echoing her with his own roar. The tension was mutual, with half a quarter-mile separating them.

"_This will be fun, right?"_ asked Liger, trying to set the light mood.

"_It will. Let's just stay under control. Besides, you wouldn't want to severely hurt a pretty zoid like me, would you?"_ Midnight playfully taunted.

"_Nope, not in four hundred years."_

"_Hmmmm, then that worries me. You've already lived that long, haven't you? What will you do now…?"_

"_Don't tell me that wisecracks are your deadliest weapon. If so, then I'm the one that's worried, because maybe I'll cause more damage than I intend to,"_ Liger joked back.

"_Hmph. Don't bet on it. At least, not with that armor. I heard it didn't work so well for you last time."_

"_I'm sure you did, but that's why you're here: to see if it does."_

"_Oh really? Then I Guess I gotta accommodate you for that then."_

"_No, you just gotta fight me like a real zoid would."_

"_Oh hahaha. Funny. Someone's got jokes."_

The wolf and the feline approached each other, the latter clad in its Schneider armor. The battle would be a test for both of them. For Midnight, it was to see how well her and her pilot could work together in a one-on-one situation. For Liger Zero, it was to see if his previously ineffective armor would work after debugging work had been done on it. They both acknowledged to each other that they would take it easy after the battles they've been in before. This was just a friendly competition, not a moment to prove life's worth. It was ultimately to better themselves for their next mission, and Ven and Aero agreed to the same terms, even though the latter found it harder to do so.

The judge capsule gradually opened, with the interior shining under the sunlight as the judge booted itself to life. Once the covering was above its sight, it shifted its view between looking at Liger Zero and Midnight. It analyzed the two registered zoids to make sure they were the ones signed up for the match. Once it recognized them, it raised up its arm to announce the battle conditions.

"The area within a 5 mile radius is a designated zoid battlefield. This zone is now restricted. Only competitors and personnel have authorized entry. Danger! All others must leave the area at once!"

Only the two zoids were making any noise as they growled at each other, ready for a tussle. Neither of them had been a fight with a real opponent in a long while. The judge gave one last look around the area to make sure it was safe before he started the match, performing the arm gestures.

"Area scanned. Battlefield, set up. The Liger Zero versus the Konig Wolf. Battle mode zero-nine-nine-two. Ready…FIGHT!"

"I'm hating you, Bro, but I'm playing fair," Aero commented, steering Midnight so that she would circle around Liger Zero. Ven performed the same action, creating a staredown situation where neither of them knew when to make their next move. The zoids were staring at each other eye-to-eye, both excited and nervous about what would happen next.

_Stay steady, Aero. We know already know them to be versatile._

"I know, I know, Nighty. Their pilot is part of my family."

The staredown continued, until commentary began.

"_You know, Zero, I forgot to tell you how great that armor looks on you, even if it may not be the most effective thing."_

"_Oh, hush up. Did I forget to tell you that yours makes you hard as hell to see during the night?"_

"_It's why I have my name."_

Suddenly, Zero's hind legs jolted to the side, angling him so that his whole body faced the wolf. Once comfortable, Ven fired off the Shock Cannons, doing so quickly enough to catch Aero off guard. The shots pelted Midnights side and singed the top of her back, causing her to stumble and howl before she threw another comment, _"So you guys are cunning, huh? Cute. Aero!"_

As if on cue, Aero immediately performed the same action and rapidly fired his dischargers, except that he missed entirely. Ven anticipated his reaction and sidebounded, before hurling Liger Zero forward quick enough to push the Konig Wolf down and keep it pinned with one paw. With this, Aero was still firing wildly, panicking as he thought he was about to lose. Then he regained his composure, recalling Midnight's advice for staying calm under all circumstances.

"_Urgh… Okay, so you two are more adept than I initially thought," _the wolf moaned.

"_Ya think?"_

The blades around Liger Zero's head thrusted forward, pointing downward at the fallen wolf. There, she laid helpless, staring at the weapons.

"_I think we have this one,"_ growled Liger Zero.

* * *

A formation of Storm Sworders flew over the mountains and along the oceanside several hundred miles away from their base. They were shaded black, the mark of them belonging to the Backdraft Group. Because of their mission, they kept at a slower pace while their heads were searching the surface below them, scanning for clues for what they were after.

"Has anyone discovered anything?" radioed Ragnarok to his subordinates from his own Storm Sworder. He was flying, even though his legs were still recovering. His doctors had suggested that he stay back and give orders through long-distance communications, because if he sustained another fatal blow, or if something went wrong while he was piloting, he would most likely need amputation and need to stay under continuous hospitalized care. However, the commander ignored most of their comments and told them he had already made up his mind, so they left him alone. No one was able to deter him.

"Nothing yet, Sir," each of them replied, keeping their scanners and radars online until they detected something."

"In that case, meet up with the Gustavs carrying our Guysacks, and prepare to explore underground. It has to be somewhere around here."

All of the Storm Sworders around him flew out to turn around and left him alone in the sky as he pulled out his notepad again. He stared at it coldly, and re-read a specific section of the text multiple times until he had it memorized.

'_He resembles me, in demeanor and attitude.  
He is the Berzerk Fuhrer, the zoid with dark hue.  
His name was once Shadow, a long-begone friend.  
I only know of his destiny, because time makes amends.  
We worked with each other, through times long lost.  
We only saw each other, during days of Eve's trust.  
He loved life near the sands, he gave up on times past.  
Too many woes had struck him right through.  
I was there to comfort who?  
He appreciated the world one last time.  
He looked back at me, he made his final rhyme.  
I was helpless, looked around, malnourished.  
We were by the beach, by the cave, unfurnaced.  
I no longer had anymore courage...'_

He put the notepad down, keeping the information memorized as a wave of sympathy hit him.

"Maybe I oughta have some pity for that stupid Konig Wolf. It is alive, afterall…"

He suddenly jolted and shook his head, shocked by what he had just told himself.

"Wait, what am I saying?! It tried to destroy us all and shot right at me! For THAT, I will have my revenge! Funny, though. I'm doing the same thing for this zoid that I did for that one. In that case, since this is our last hope, this had better be a good idea…"

Then his heart pounded to where he did a double-take, forcing him to grab his chest with one hand and throw his zoid off course as it flew to its side. He was panting roughly as the beating kept hitting his chest and stole his concentration away from steering where he was heading. The shock of the pain hit him even harder than when he had injured himself, making him question what was happening.

"What the HELL?! Why is my chest feeling so…Grrrrrrrr…"

The Storm Sworder was flying in circles with no one to set it straight. One of the men he dispatched saw what was happening and radioed him to see if he was okay. Ragnarok only grunted in response, confusing him even more.

"I'm…fine. Just…keep searching for signals."

"Okay, but you really don't sound fine, Sir. Aren't you already hurt anyway? Because I'm thinking, if this continues, we should just abandon the mission, especially since you've already unsettled The Count-"

"DON'T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT ABANDONING THE MISSION," Ragnarok screamed back, startling the other pilot so that he jumped. "I could care less about The Count since he can't seem to do anything correctly with the Backdraft Group, nor can Velvet! And this is all we've got left, anyhow. Anyone who leaves will have a report filed due to their inferior work, do you understand?!"

"Meep… Yes, Sir."

"Good! Now get back to work!"

Ragnarok listened to the sound of the transmission being cut off and refocused on his own problems. He wasn't supposed to be out and about. What he was currently doing was being performed without The Count's knowing, because he had decided that time couldn't be wasted. His faith in The Count had also been hurt after their last meeting, where he couldn't tell if he had approved of the Xavier's notes or not. No response had come afterwards, and all he was left with was his own rules. He couldn't begin to think about what the bald man would think if he found out what they were doing, and he didn't really care.

'_My goal is to set things straight, and that WILL happen!'_

Then his mind returned to thinking about his physical pain. He could still feel it, but it was less noticeable. It was only a sudden thing when he thought about the Berzerk Fuhrer, the zoid of which he was searching for.

'_Then there's this beating, and it's strange. It's like I feel a connection to something, a feeling that I haven't felt for so long. What is it?'_

After the pain began to subside, he returned to normal flight. He flew back to where his troops were and hovered around them, performing as many area scans as he could, but nothing showed up.

The minutes kept on passing by, and his men were becoming impatient. They were angered that the work they spent most of their day on was churning out no results. They were often times asking themselves what better things they could be doing with the day. They wondered what other work the Backdraft Group could be doing instead. Some of them were even beginning to veer away without Ragnarok's notice, until one of them radioed everyone.

"Sir, I'm picking up strange signals in this area." Ragnarok's attention was brought to full-alert as he leaned forward towards his speakers.

"You are? If that's the case, where exactly are you right now?"

"I'm returning to the surface right now, in front of the trail that leads to the caverns within a section of the mountains two miles west from where we split off."

"Alright then. We'll all meet you there. Men, regroup!"

They all complied, and a pack of Guysacks protruded out from under the sands, traveling towards their destination alongside their Gustavs. From above, Ragnarok followed them, then quickly pushed ahead since he wanted to be the first one there so he could take the lead. If he didn't, someone else would take it, which was a common tendency among some of his soldiers. If they did, they would sometimes incline others to abandon their work, and then that would create other problems.

He brought down the Storm Sworder's legs for a safelanding and brushed the zoid's feet against the ground's dirt, stopping in time just to be a far enough distance away from the waiting Guysack. Small winds of dust were kicked up, but settled down once the head opened up and the zoid kneeled down, allowing Ragnarok to climb out. The pilot who was there saw what he was doing and was shocked.

"Sir, shouldn't you be taking things a bit more slowly?"

"I'm fine, like I said. Besides, I've managed to get a bit better over the past few days. Although, at least I brought 'this' with me."

The man stared confoundedly until he saw the commander yanking out his wheelchair with one arm and dropping it down beneath him. He gasped at this, not understanding how a man could effortlessly pull out such a large chair without hurting himself.

"You still inspire me to this day, Commander."

"Don't bother," Ragnarok grumbled, slipping off of his zoid and onto his wheelchair. "You don't wanna end up in a position like mine. Shit from every angle."

"I know, but I wish I could perform the tasks you do. You make the hardest bits of life seem easy."

Ragnarok was sweating in his seat and beginning to cool down. A feeling of peace was sweeping over him, until he heard the last comment. After he registered it, he looked up at the pilot who was still in his own zoid and narrowly locked a glare onto him, telling him not to make him think about certain things. The Guysack pilot waved his arms in defense, saying 'sorry' in order to calm him back down. There was tension between everyone, because there was the pressure to do everything right.

The rest of the group appeared behind them minutes later, parking their zoids and jumping out of them to join their commander. With all of them grouped together, the blue-coated man looked forward into the caverns. The eerie sight encouraged him to bring out his notepad again, to help him see if they were following the right path.

"So what exactly did you detect?" Ragnarok asked, placing his hand in his pocket.

"I couldn't really tell. It wasn't coming up as anything specific, but was listed as an 'unknown identity.' I figured it would be something for us to investigate."

"You 'figured', huh? Pretty risky of you."

"Well…yeah." The pilot shrugged.

"Haha, don't fret. Because by the look of things…" muttered Ragnarok as he held out his notepad for everyone to see. The other men were beginning to crowd around him. "…you may have struck gold. I'm reading this part, where it says: 'his meditation was at a quiet and dark place, with no fires, and no strays. I used to find him by the water, where he'd claim he'd always stay.' Everything else seems to follow along with where we are now, so we should get going."

He put the papers back and began to stroll himself forward until many of his soldiers stopped him, running up to him and grabbing him. He was irritated enough that he growled.

"So what's our problem now?" he asked.

"Sir, we just want to know exactly what we are going off of. Is it just a poem?"

"Just a poem? Do I look like the type who would take some random crap and run with it? It's a translation by one of our scientists who joined us when we went hunting for that Konig Wolf a while ago. This is the text that we found in that cave back then."

"So we're just using a random translation to guide us?" They were becoming just as disturbed as him.

"It's not random in the least bit. This text right here in my pocket was found in _the _cave that had _the _Konig Wolf, the zoid that functioned without a pilot and nearly totaled us. Does that not make this significant to all of you?"

The men looked at each other, then back at Ragnarok. Only one of them spoke up.

"Well shouldn't that make us worried then? The fact that this might be connected to the zoid that surprise attacked us concerns us." The commander rolled his eyes.

"And yet you can't remember that this exact zoid that we're looking for sided with us once before, can you? And with all your fear, let me ask you if any of you have a better idea of what we should do. If we can obtain this zoid and couple it with the rest of us, we would have power unlike anything we've ever had before. Our overall goal would finally be met!"

Again, silence happened, stirring up more agitation in Ragnarok. His own men were unsure of him.

"I'm guessing that none of you can also remember the speech I recently gave, where I informed everyone of what we would be doing. Now you're all just barely being competent. I'm even starting to wonder if you men remember what it is that you truly stand for. Fear and concern were never a part of what made our entire unit up: the Backdraft Group. We go to extremes for what we believe in, and that doesn't stop now!"

Each of them held their heads low. Most of had never before met the commander in person, so to them, his character was a shellshock they were trying to adjust to. He was commanding, demanding, and orderly, without ever letting anything go astray if there was something he could do about it. His persona was what allowed him to obtain his the ranks he's had. The others who already knew him were digesting his words and letting the truth behind them sink in. They knew about the danger beforehand, but last-minute instincts were pushing them to stop. They stood still, watching as their leader was already moving forward. He planned on accomplishing something then and there.

"By the way," Ragnarok spoke again, noticing that no one was following, "there is something that I suppose I did not make initially clear, and that is my fault, but this whole thing was voluntary. That's the whole point of a cause. It's voluntary. In fact, even the Backraft Group is voluntary. None of you ever had to join us. You could have gone on to try to fix up your lives some other way. Maybe some of you could have somehow started your own family lives by now. In other words, really, everything you've all been doing while wearing our badge has just been a test of character. When it comes to getting what you want, are you fearless or are you not? That's what you've been trying to answer, even right now. In fact, none of you have to even follow me into these depths, because I'm going anyway and I'm going to make something of this mission. Really, the truth is, I'm only being the way I am because I was sure that each of you shared the Backdraft Group's ultimate goal. I was pushing that inner need in each of you to do what I thought you had all put your faith in, but I guess I was wrong. I also guess that I'll be seeing you all later by the looks that I sense I'm getting."

The lone man continued on the trail by himself, not bothering to wait for a response. None of the men tried to catch up with him, with some of them already asking each other if he was crazy or if he would even come back. He didn't care, nonetheless. All his mind could focus on was the Berzerk Fuhrer, so he traveled alone.

* * *

Before Ragnarok knew it, everything around him was dark, without a trace of light except for the exit behind him. He flicked on the lights in his coat and used them to illuminate a trail in front of him. From there, the caverns were a void. There was no sound, except for the trudging of his wheelchair, and even that was low-key. He could feel the surface was flat and smooth, as if it had been cleaned recently. There were no bumps or rough edges, nor were there any spiderwebs. The place looked as if it had been prepared.

'_Eve, the further I travel down here, the more familiar this whole situation feels.'_

He looked around the pathway and noticed that its layout was gradually changing. It was rectangular for the most part, up until where he was currently heading. At his spot, it was widening, with the walls extending outward and the ceiling reaching several hundred feet up. It resembled a dome, and the more he looked around, the more it looked as if he was inside of a building instead of a cave. Instead of being rocky and blank, there were wooden walls with drawings depicting grotesque battles between zoids of different types. Some of them showed the mechs completely destroyed, with their body parts separated from each other, while others displayed them standing on top of one another, as a sign of their triumph over their opponent. Many of them were old-fashioned carvings, similar in style to the Zoidian text he had seen in the Konig Wolf's cave.

"Where the hell have I ended up now? Even worse, I'm surrounding by more junk that I can't make sense of."

He searched for where the pathway continued, but he couldn't find anything. It was this that told him he found all he was going to find, and he couldn't handle it.

"This…has to be a joke. Really, it does. At least the other place had a fucking zoid in it."

Besides the images on the walls, he couldn't find anything else. He was frantically shifting around, trying to find something that would give him a clue. He needed to find something to avoid embarrassment when he returned, and to also ensure that the Backdraft Group be successful in the long run. The only new thing he discovered was dripping water, and the fact that his coat had been dirtied.

"No… I WILL find the Fuhrer and bring it BACK!"

Then suddenly again, he keeled over and clutched his chest. The heart pounding had returned, this time even stronger than before. Mentioning the zoid's name out loud had taken its toll on him, and now, he was only able to mutter brief sentences.

"This…again…why…?"

He fell out of his wheelchair and onto the floor. The state of his body had left him rolling and cringing while he tried to cry out, even though all that came out was a series of muffles. However, as a seeming response, an outline on the wall was lighting up, forming two figures that resembled the diamond shape of the eyes of a rare breed of zoids. They filled themselves with a red glow, illuminating the commander's body as he continued to writhe. His wheelchair was out of the line of sight, leaving him to seem as helpless as possible.

"Rrrrggghhhh, grrrr… There's…a…light…?"

Like before, his heart's pressure was receding, slowly freeing himself of the pain. Even then, he still continued to groan while he laid down in relief, but the sight of the glow took his full attention. He quickly noticed the source of it, and found himself staring into a gaze that was ingrained into the whole side of the room he was looking at.

"Are you…is that…"

"_My name…I heard it…that feeling…"_

The commander's eyes went wide at the sound of a low voice. However, he was not greatly surprised. Instead, he was content, confident that he had found what he was looking for. His encounter with the Konig Wolf had taught him a lot about how certain zoids are. Some of them are sentient, while most aren't.

"Yes…you did hear it."

"_Why…? I have slept for so long…time and time again. Why do you also feel familiar?"_

'_I feel familiar? Oh…wait…'_

The question reminded the commander of who he himself was connected to. It was hard for him to mention because of his own shaky relationship with that same person, but he muttered it out, just to serve his own needs.

"I…feel familiar…because you knew my grandfather."

"_Grand…father? Then who…are you?"_

Ragnarok pushed himself to stand up to full height, despite his body's aches. Small mounds of dust were kicking up around him as he tried to formalize himself, and he grimaced as he attempted to stay right. He kept his arms at his sides, staring straight into the eyes that were twice his size.

"They call me 'Ragnarok.'"

"_Ragnarok? That doesn't sound…right. It doesn't sound…related…to the other one I knew."_

Ragnarok panted. He was being pushed to reveal something about him that he never revealed to anyone: his real name. The sharpened gaze was telling him he would have to provide it if he wanted the moment to go anywhere, so he gave it.

"Well…if it helps any," the commander shyly muttered, gathering himself up before he shared his deepest secret, "My real name...my birth name…is Ratchet Obscura. I hope that is what you were looking for."

"_Obscura…?"_

"Yes, Obscura. I am the descendant of your past pilot. Only a few know that."

"_Obscura…Vega…"_

The glow grew brighter, forcing Ragnarok to cover his eyes with his hand. It was a radiance that managed to make him stumble backwards to where his hat fell off his head, allowing his exposed long blue hair to flow down cleanly. Under the red light, it took on a greyish tone, with specks of it glistening until the brightness died down.

"Urrggghhhh… Yes, I am referring to Vega. He passed away many decades ago after he brought back the Backdraft Group, but much of his work went unattended, and now we're fighting for the justice that he couldn't fulfuill."

Ragnarok dropped his hand back down, staring back at the eyes that were glaring at him.

"That is why we have come back for you again. We need you on our side. Otherwise, we will be helpless. We're in a poor state as we are, and could be defeated at any moment."

The voice maintained a long moment of silence, only emitting a low growl.

"_And why do I care about something that has already failed once?"_ it asked.

"You care because of what we stand for. The last time you were with us, we were only hosting unsanctioned zoid battles just for the sake of it. This time, we are trying to make the world a fair place. We are the people that have been run over and spat on by this planet's government. We barely had enough money as we were, and we are trying to become the only thing that we ever wanted to be: a normal citizen. But we've been denied that right time and time again. We were considered the lowest class of people, so we are now trying to prove them wrong, because they would never listen to us. Plus…"

The commander straightened up his entire appearance. He was preparing himself for an uproar.

"…for what you ultimately care about, they are using the Liger Zero against us, a zoid of which I am sure you are familiar with."

The eyes glowed brightly again, but Ragnarok was ready this time, covering his face without moving. A louder snarl rang throughout the caverns.

"_LIGER ZERO! Zeke…"_

The cry puzzled the commander, because the other name he heard was foreign to him. He turned his head, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Zeke?"

"_Liger… I may not have ended up this way if it wasn't for him! I…he…he will pay…"_

"Then will you join us? We both have terms of revenge to exact."

"_Grrrrr… Maybe just a helping claw."_

Ragnarok grinned, even though he began to feel the pain returning. The sense of connection to the zoid was coming back, and he lowered his head. He met the glowing eyes with his own dark look.

"Great…because _that_…should be more than good enough," he sinisterly muttered.

"_And you have this strange aura. It must be because of your…ties."_

"I am willing to guess so."

The shine grew as bright as it could, encapsulating the whole room. The man anticipated the reaction and closed his eyes, laughing hauntingly as he was surrounding by the red light.

* * *

A series of blue beams shot through the air, narrowly avoiding Liger Zero as he repeatedly sidebounded. None of them managed to connect, much to Aero's rage.

"C'mon, Ven, this isn't fair!"

"Is that what a fight is supposed to be?"

"Yeah! Get hit already!"

But his wish never came true. Liger Zero was only running at half of his maximum speed until Ven had grown tired of the repetition and sped him up. Once he had enough free space to maneuver whichever way he wanted, he aimed himself at Midnight again, attempting to pull off the same attack.

"Aero, you're making this way too easy."

"_He's right,"_ Liger Zero commented.

"_Shutup!"_

"Oh no I'm not!"

Midnight's dischargers stopped firing. Then Aero pushed her forward into a run towards Liger Zero, letting her run at her maximum speed.

"Yeah you are, and now you're just making it even easier!"

"Oh really, Bro?"

Then, seconds before they would have hit, both zoids swerved to their left sides. Liger Zero did so more efficiently, though, and fired off, successfully hitting Midnight in the legs. Midnight barely flinched, and followed up his shots with her own, firing the guns mounted on her face. The feline took bullets to the same spot, but still stood its ground, but once it saw the dischargers charging, it jumped to the side again, firing and charging at the same time like it normally does.

"Oh no you don't," cried Aero, watching as the liger jumped for him with its side blades extended. With this, he quickly aimed upwards and continued pelting with his face guns until the last second, where he performed his own side jump, albeit a bit slower. The blades came down and scathed the edge of Midnight's armor as she was still evading, but didn't leave a dent. Liger Zero then took off again to avoid an instantaneous attack from behind.

"Hey, you're getting better at this," Ven complimented, looking behind him at where Aero was.

"I'm better than you think, bro."

Then a charged shot from Midnight's cannons struck the feline from behind, sending him and Zero toppling over and breaking off one of the blades. After it connected and they laid in a heap, Ven realized what Aero's trick was: he began amping up his cannons in the hopes that Ven would be scared off and attempt to tackle him instead, so he waited for him to do so and saved it up, firing it when the time was right. It worked.

"_Goddamnit, Ven! You just had to lose this one, didn't you?!"_

"Hey, we all make mistakes," the teenager groaned. "For our sake, it's indirectly good that this happened."

"_Yeah, besides the fact that we're like this."_

The damaged zoid tried to stand back up but couldn't stay stable. Its legs were weakened, and if it had received a fully charged shot, he would have been decommissioned. Luckily for itself, it was saved by its friendship with the Konig Wolf, the relationship between their pilots, and the rules of sanctioned zoid battles, but it was scared to think of what could have happened.

Aero ran Midnight up to the red-armored zoid that laid in front of them. After he was sure that the battle was over, he bursted into a fit of laughter. He was kicking things and holding his stomach, then pointing at Liger Zero. He was growing loud to the point where not even Midnight was comfortable with it.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, you thought you were so good! And now look! I won!"

"Yes, Aero, I know, be proud."

"Proud? I'm happy as hell, Bro! I actually beat my brother, I actually beat my brother, nananananana!" (Ven and Midnight sweatdrop) Midnight jumped in to reassure them about his attitude.

_He's actually nicer than this. Don't worry about that_, she spoke, so that Aero could understand her. She was hoping to make a point to him, and he took it with mixed feelings.

"What, I can't have some fun?"

_You can, just…let's just all try to make each other happy, alright?_

"_Boy, that's something to hear from you,"_ Zero threw in, still trying to balance himself.

"_Shhhhhhhhhhh!"_

In the distance, the judge was watching the two of them close in on each other, waiting for more action to happen. Then nothing happened. They were just staying close to each other without doing anything. The robot was perplexed as it kept scanning the status of both of them. Neither of them had their command systems frozen, and they weren't fighting each other either. All they did was stand around on standby, except for the fact that one of them looked to be having a harder time standing. After seeing nothing else, it called out to them, "Are we, under Zoids Battle jurisdiction, calling this a stalemate? I repeat, are we, under Zoids Battle jurisdiction, calling this a stalemate?" All of them heard the judge, and Aero was the first to respond.

"NO," he yelled back, startling the judge and making Ven cringe. "I won, fair and square!"

"Is this true, Ven Night?"

Ven looked at the judge, then back at Midnight, not sure if he wanted to lecture Aero first or respond to the judge.

"Aero, you know you're gonna have to grow up out of this behavior soon, right?" he retorted to his brother, before declaring to the judge, "He's right. He did."

"Understood. ATTENTION! THE BATTLE IS OVER! THE BATTLE IS OVER! The winner is…the Konig Wolf!"

"YAY," Aero yelled again.

"Great, now let's get moving. Jeez I didn't expect our spar to get this rough," Ven moaned. Liger Zero complained with him.

"_Tell me about it. I don't think we as a team can lose to anything now. Well, unless-"_

"Please don't start talking deep right now. I'd rather not think about that sort of stuff, especially since I was expecting to teach my brother a few things, not lose to him."

"_aaahah…ahah…right… You think you're in misery. I just got beaten by HER, and I won't be hearing the end of it."_

"_Ohhhh, it could have happened to anyone,"_ Midnight reassured. _"You at least got to see how your armor works."_

"_Yeah. At least I didn't freeze-"_

Liger Zero stopped moving. Then he toppled over, leaving Ven in another mess as he looked at his monitors to see the phrase 'Command System Frozen.' He reached to grab his hair, but before he could do that, he was thrown sideways, hearing the sound of Liger Zero crashing and Midnight and Aero laughing in unison. The pilot's face turned red, and he started cursing at his controls, and eventually at Liger as well. Then every other inappropriate name he could think of was coming out of his mouth.

"YOU'RE KIDDING ME! AGAIN?! WHAT THE FUCK?! Come on, Liger Zero! This isn't supposed to happen to me in front of my brother and his zoid!"

Meanwhile, the judge decided it was time to lock up and leave. Watching a zoid fall over freaked it out, so it sealed up and launched itself back up towards the skies.

* * *

"So what is even wrong with this armor?" Ven asked as he stood next to Rachel in the testing room. They were both staring into the computer screen that displayed the data for the Schneider armor. It was providing a full run-down analysis of the armor's capabilities, pros, cons, and even detailing examples of when it could best be used. There were animations showing exactly how it functioned, and where specific zoid parts could be found. However, they couldn't find the answer to their question.

"I'm not really sure. I mean, obviously, there are major compatability issues, but the exact reason for those is what I'm still digging to find out. I'm thinking that it might have to do with the system synchronization."

"System synchronization? "

"Yeah. Basically, it means that in terms of functionality, both the armor and the zoid are wholly separate. The armor has its own unique programming that is coded differently from the Liger Zero's. However, since this armor was designed for the Liger, the two operating systems should be working together perfectly, but they're not, which means that, unless the Schneider's coding is somehow different, something is not gelling. Perhaps the wiring is messed up, which could affect the electro transmitters that work between the zoid's command inputs and the armor's outputs."

Ven raised an eyebrow, while Rachel turned to look at him since she didn't hear anything from him. She sighed, explaining further, "That really just means that by having the Liger Zero make his armor do anything, he runs the risk of freezing up like he has the past couple of times."

The pilot disappointedly shook his head as he turned towards the couch and trudged towards it. He fell down on it, and Rachel watched him in his state of frustration.

"I know, Ven, you really want this thing to work. Honestly, it's probably going to take some time before we can fine tune these armors to safety levels. They're a technology we're not wholly familiar with, after all."

"Yes, but if Liger Zero himself, something that is older than these things, can work perfectly, other than when he's using them, then they should be working fine, too."

"Well, I'm guessing that CAS armors are an on-again-off-again thing. They don't get used as often as his basic armor, so their technology hasn't truly adapted to being used at all."

"But it's still just nonsensical to me. Why would these things exist in the first place if their probability of working wasn't even that high? Maybe I should just ditch using them for a while, even during our big operation." Rachel's attitude lit up upon hearing this. Instead of using her normal voice, it changed to a higher pitch.

"You know, I've been waiting to hear that from you. Or at least, something like that, since now you're thinking more along my lines. Trust me, as a lieutenant, I know that it's best to take new procedures like this slowly, especially if it involves tech that we're not accustomed to. But noooooo, everybody just gets excited and does what they want."

Ven twisted himself around on the furniture, found a piece of paper lying on the ground, and crumpled it up into a ball, throwing it up in the air repeatedly as a way of keeping himself from getting bored.

"Yeah, that's true. Maybe I should really just be sticking to your word from now on when it comes to things like this. You practically are my advisor, after all." Rachel smiled at the compliment, and Ven returned it. "Well, I guess we're each other's advisors, really. I helped you out a bit with putting our attack plan together."

"Yeah, that much is true. It's just strange to think that you're even like that to me nowadays."

"Yup." Ven then picked himself up, sitting up straight on the couch. "Hey, speaking of our attack, how's that whole thing been goin' along?"

"It's going pretty great, actually," Rachel replied, twisting her chair back around and back again after grabbing a small stack of papers. "We've been getting approvals across the board to go along with it, and training procedures are underway. They've mentioned that they might decide to change aspects of it if they see fit, and if they do, they'll notify us. Otherwise, as far as you and Aero are concerned, you're both fine. Nothing that you two have been assigned should be altered, so you guys just pretty much have to prepare yourselves, like it looks like you just did."

The teenager's smile faded, and the lieutenant chuckled with her hand on her face.

"And of course, that's why you're here," she added.

"Don't mention it."

"Hey, I will if I want to." She removed her hand from her face and used it to grab some of the papers she was holding. She arranged them into their own stack and gently handed them to Ven. "By the way, I almost forgot, but you need to read through these. They're agreement contracts that you will be okay with the mission supervision under the commanders."

"Mission supervision? Me and Aero aren't leading anything?"

"You two are. You'll be leading your own group, but the commanders are the ones who oversee everything. If they tell you to do something, you'll have to comply, unless you see a _reeeeaaalllllyyyyyy_ good reason not to, or else you'll be facing charges for misconduct under agreement."

"Gah, yeah, I get it," Ven moaned as he reached out for the papers and started reading through them.

"Don't forget, though, you're still barely above entry level. You're only even getting the say that you get because you know someone among us," she proudly informed, turning her smile coy as she watched him sign the papers.

"Oh, so I guess I should be thanking you big time for this, huh? Like I haven't already."

"Actually, now that I come to think about it, you haven't really." Her own smile faded and turned into an expression of wonder. "I've been working hard here for you, and you've done what?"

"Work hard in return?" He signed a page with his pen. "I mean, I'm only putting my life on the line when I go out there with Zero. It's not like that's a big deal or anything."

"Yeah, well… Urgh, forget it. You know what I meant. I was talking about something a bit more personal. Some sort of you-to-me thing, ya know?"

"Yeah, I'll do that as soon as you, Malcolm, and Zanzer aren't giving me work, haha," Ven slyly cracked as he was moving through the papers.

"You could sound a little more considerate when you say that."

"Kinda hard to do that when I'm reading through papers telling me that I have to take orders from a fourth, fifth, and sixth person."

Rachel wiped her head with her hand, running out of comebacks for him. The back-and-forth conversation was beginning to wear her out, so she returned to her computer screen where she could do things herself.

'_He's also even smarter, I'll give him that,'_ she said to herself.

"That's true, too. Anyway, just don't forget to show those to Aero when he decides to show up. Speaking of him, I bet he's gonna surprise us any moment, isn't he? He seems like he's got his own pace going."

"Yeah, he's still spending a lot of time getting familiar with his own zoid." He signed another page and flipped to the next. "It's kinda like what I do with Liger Zero, although since he's younger, he's a bit more clingy about it. Very much about ownership. It makes me wonder how his zoid puts up with it, because sometimes, I barely can."

Immediately after Ven finished talking, the door to the room swung open, showing a swift, but calm Aero as he took his stride in. He looked around at his brother and the lieutenant, waiting for a greeting, but only got a lazy response.

"Hello there, Aero," the lazy teenager greeted, still reading through the contracts. "We've been expecting you."

"Don't say something generic," his squeaky voice piped. "I'm growing up like you said, you know."

"Glad I know that now." Aero made the point of walking straight over to him. His hair fell in his face, making Ven look narrowly at him, as if to say he couldn't recognize the kid. "And I guess being around Midnight has changed the way you talk? Seems like you're sayin' bigger things lately."

"Yeah, it has. She teaches me a lot, and even more than you do since she's not being like mom and dad. But I really hate that that's how you're being, Ven. Even now that I've stopped being like a…kid, like you've always wanted me to be, you still barely care about me." The papers fell to his stomach.

"I don't care about you? What?"

"Yeah, because you're still telling me 'you shouldn't do this, you can't do that.' Really, Ven, I hate it!"

"Well, look…" Ven grumbled as he kneeled forward. "It's not that I don't care about you, it's that I do. It's just that you've been doing so many crazy things your whole life, and you've still been doing them."

"Crazy things? They're not crazy. I'm just trying to have fun. Really, it just seems like everyone is trying to deny that."

"Well, you've been getting busted a lot, and somehow you avoid really bad consequences. I mean, look at me. I did something crazy, and look where I am now. And that ended up getting you in this position as well."

Aero looked away, and Rachel briefly turned to look at him, visible in his peripheral vision. His face contorted, before a tear welled up, and he bursted out.

"It just isn't fair, though! Why do you all get to make decisions and I don't? Is there something wrong with me? Is it something about how I am? I have my own zoid, a really strong one, and that isn't good enough. Not even shooting down that Ragnarok guy is good enough. NOT EVEN BEATING YOU IN A ONE-ON-ONE IS GOOD ENOUGH! WHY?!"

Rachel started to get emotional alongside him and decided she couldn't take it anymore. She got out of her seat and slowly moved her way towards the young pilot, kneeling down beside him to comfort him.

"Aero, he's not trying to be harsh," she reassured. "He's really telling you the truth. You have been making problems for yourself and others, and we're just highly suggesting that you do the things we're telling you so we can keep you safe."

"But Midnighty will save me, right? Isn't that what she wishes to do?"

Both Rachel and Ven were perturbed by his attitude towards his zoid. All they could see was a wave of irresponsibility and disrespect. However, despite that, Rachel did her best to be sincere.

"Well, those who are meant to protect you can't always do so. She may not be there when you need her, so you gotta learn to watch out for yourself. For your sake, we're the ones who know how to do that best."

"But I'm always unable to do all the things I wanna do. When can I just make all of my own decisions?"

"As soon as you show that you can handle yourself," Ven added harshly, inclining Aero to look back at him. "We let you hang out with 'Midnighty' whenever you want, but other than that, you really just gotta get a grip. You're doin' better at it, I'll give you that. But seriously, I act the way I do just so I can keep you from doing more of some of the things you've done, and to keep myself from getting me in trouble as well, since I take the brunt of whatever problems you cause! It's kind of like how mom and dad used to be, which is what you were…saying."

Aero tightened up even more, sinking his eyes into his brother's before throwing another fit.

"Fine then, have it your guys' way. I'll just be everyone's slave who has to do whatever he's told, and I won't say anything. Just don't talk to me about it right now!"

Out of his rage, Aero slipped away to a corner of the room away from Rachel and Ven, who both looked at him disappointedly. When it came to a kid of his intelligence, they didn't know what to do. For his age, he knew all the right things to say to irritate others.

"Don't bother," Ven whispered to Rachel. "I've tried doing what you're doing before. It doesn't work."

"It always did when he was younger."

"Sadly, that was then."

"And this is now, I suppose."

"Mhm. And I don't think I should give him these papers now, or else he'll tear them up."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

Meanwhile, Rachel looked at the preteen sympathetically before she walked back to her seat. Ven finished signing the papers, while Aero stared around the room with the same depression in his face. He was searching for something, something that would support how he wanted to be.

'_They can't always treat me this way,'_ he reminded himself._ 'Does this mean that I just gotta wait a few more years? If so, then wahhhh…'_

* * *

The Backdraft Group's squad that had been following Ragnarok's orders remained outside alongside their Guysacks and Gustavs, cracking jokes and sympathizing with each other as they each shared their own personal stories of how they got involved with the organization, as well as what they thought of their commander. Many of them were even sitting down or inside their zoids, sending messages to those who were back at their base or messing with their controls as they thought about leaving. None of them decided to follow Ragnarok into the caverns and thought it was best to stay where they knew it was safe. They all told each other how they thought he was ridiculous.

"Can you believe him? He went in there without even knowing where he was going! He was even still on his wheelchair," commented one of them.

"Tell me about it. And those notes of his looked completely ludicrous," added his friend without his helmet on, showing his rugged face and cut brown hair. "I doubt he even really knows what he's doing."

"Let's just face it: he's probably gonna die in there, and we should leave," suggested a Gustav's driver as he was sipping a drink. "Something's been makin' him go crazy lately, and I don't think it's good for any of us."

"Don't be stupid! If we leave without him and he's still out here, he'll contact the others, and we will get fired, or maybe even executed for treachery. It's best if we just wait a little while longer. Who knows, he might even come out with something."

"Yeah, sure he will. And now that I think about it, he had very little good reasoning backing this cause. That should have said something to us."

"Well, let's just be calm. There's nothing we can really do right now."

"Not if I can say something."

Then suddenly, a red flash shined from within the caverns, catching everyone's attention and stirring up a frenzy among the pilots. They all turned to look at it, because it wasn't dying down.

"What the hell is that?!"

"I don't know. But I guess you're right: he most likely died!"

"See, I told you! Now let's get out of here before that shit affects us!"

Everyone scrambled to get to the Storm Sworders that were mounted on the Gustavs. They left the Guysacks behind because they were incapable of a quick escape, unlike the fliers. However, amidst all the people running, they heard the sound of three charged particle beams behind them, and saw them shoot out from the mountain range near them them and towards the skies, eliminating their hopes that they would be able to effectively. They all returned to staring at the flashing caverns and watched as the entire rocky grounds was ripped through by the beams, crumbling under the collapsing pressure.

"Wait a second," the pilot without his helmet continued, "does that mean that he actually…"

His sentence fell off once he noticed a pair of hovering red eyes staring at him through the smoke. The particle beams were cut off, and all that remained was the rubble and the ashes, with a roar penetrating through the gusts.

"No way…" the Gustav's pilot added, dropping his drink with his mouth wide open. "We actually…got it back. And it's so…powerful!"

They all stayed still, watching as a dark dinosaur-shaped creature was approaching them. They couldn't tell exactly what it was, but each of them were taking guesses. It was only once it emerged from the destruction it had caused that its full image was clear, with a light purple armor and a pair of buster claws spinning on its back. The weapons were sparkling with a purple electricity, illuminating the tyrannosaurus body under the dark sky.

"Hello there, men," Ragnarok's voice called out from it, sparking another roar from the zoid. He was sitting inside the cockpit, grinning evilly as he kept a tight grip on the controls. "Did you miss me? Because if so, I brought us back a really sweet present, something I'm sure you all doubted I could actually do. With that, please say hello to our newest ally, the 'Berzerk Fuhrer!'"


	22. Towards the Despair

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters (excluding Midnight and Aero) and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc**

**Towards the Despair**

The hangar's room was completely filled. Regiments of pilots were lined up all across, and there were zoids occupying every stall. There were Godoses, Cannon Tortoises, Bio Raptors, Bio Triceras, Pterases, Redlers, and Command Wolves, as well as more stationed outside the building. They were armed and ready, yet only made up a fraction of the army that was being prepared, and the Commission's commanders were reviewing the upcoming mission to ensure that everybody participating understood what they needed to do. Among them were Ven and Aero, who were saluting their leaders from the front row until they were called up.

"With that, I would like to introduce you all to Ven and Aero Night," presented a tanned bulky man in his uniform as he extended an arm out to them. He was the commander who would issue orders directly through to Ven and expect him to relay them to the rest of his men. It was a responsibility that scared both of them as they looked at him, but they willingly took it up, walking up a few steps and turning around to face the crowd before them. The commander stood right next to them and continued, "I am sure each of you have heard of them, so much explanation is not needed. They are the owners of the Liger Zero and the Konig Wolf, and thus, they will lead you directly into battle."

A range of groans emitted from the soldiers as they looked at the two teenagers in displeasure. The concept of two younger pilots leading them was alien, and because of that, many of them began sneering at the brothers. They didn't know how pilots their age would be able to perform well, but the commander was quick to calm them down.

"Now, I know what you are all thinking," the man announced, pushing his palms out to deter the crowd while he closed his eyes, "but rest I assure you that these two young men have proven themselves in combat multiple times, and the president approves of this. He even has a relationship with them, so to speak, and because of that, there will be no further questions, and any soldier who is caught trying to override them either during or before the mission will be disabled and have their badge taken. Understood?"

Then a series of nods then surfaced among the crowd as they lost their smiles. They were unhappy, but with the possible consequences, they saw no other choice. They had to follow through. Ven and Aero just looked at them and trembled.

"Good then. With that, I expect each of you to be getting along with these two immediately. I will receive no complaints whatsoever, and things will go accordingly. In the meantime, I will be addressing another group and will be back within the hour. By then, I expect progress to be made among all of you."

The commander then turned to face the brothers and noticed their stances. They were still shaking, having been new to being the center of attention in front of a group of soldiers. They returned his look and then nodded, signaling that they knew what to do.

"So please, do allow these two young men to introduce themselves."

Then they were left alone with the battalion in front of them. They looked at each and every single face and watched some of the growls form. All they saw was a chance that things would go wrong.

"So…" Ven muttered, still making eye contact with everyone, "hello there, everyone. As the commander pointed out, my name is Ven Night, and this is my younger adopted brother, Aero."

And once again, another range of groans circulated throughout the room. Only some of the Commission's officials, such as Rachel and Malcolm, had gotten to know them personally, so they knew of the relationship between the two brothers. Everyone else on the other hand had only heard they were siblings, and some of them hadn't heard anything at all.

"Yes, he is adopted. Again, we are also the pilots of the Liger Zero and the Konig Wolf, so we are largely responsible for many of the Commission's recent accomplishments. Because of that, we have been elected to lead this specific group, and we will be towards the frontlines. With this, are there any questions?"

Besides the low chattering between the men, the room became mostly quiet. A lot of them lost their attitudes as they were impressed by Ven's poise. Their smirks, frowns, and gritting teeth were completely gone as they continued to listen without adding their own input. However, both Ven and Aero were still shaking and beginning to break a sweat, even as they noticed the people calmed down.

"Alright then. In that case, I do not believe much more introduction is needed, other than my brother."

The preteen shot a glance up at the taller pilot with eyes shining under the light. He was even more intimidated by having to speak due to being the shortest person there, but Ven looked down at him with a sharp glare.

"Guess what happens when you get angry out of nowhere?" Ven asserted. "Besides, you're going to have to get familiar with them anyway. You can't lead if they don't know your voice."

"Errrrrrrr…"

All the eyes shifted to Aero as he looked at each of the taller men he could see. None of the pilots behind them were visible to him because of his height, and knowing this, his sweating increased.

"So, hi guys…"

The pilots in front of him raised their eyebrows. After hearing Ven, they were surprised. The younger brother appeared much more reserved and shy. Ven was quick to address this.

"Louder, Aero! It's a big place. Most of them probably don't even know that you're talking."

"Oh, alright…"

Then another loud voice permeated the room from the other side of it. It was loud enough to grab everyone's attention, but it was Ven who zoned in on it the most. He knew it better than anybody else.

"VEN," screamed a young man's voice, high-pitched as it was.

"Oh Eve," Ven silently cried, putting a hand on his face. He knew exactly who had arrived. "Is he really gonna be a part of this with us as well?"

A rift was recklessly torn through the troops as it gradually made its way towards the front. Complaints arose from the pilots as a few of them were knocked down, watching as a single blue-haired man plowed right through them. He was aggressive in pushing through, but slow in noticing the anger that was around him. He could only focus on reaching the brothers.

"Is that…Thomas?" Aero asked, leaning towards Ven who was nodding his head.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"VEN," he shouted again, forcing those around him to cover their ears. Ven looked away from the man, squinting his eyes as the guard reached the front and threw his hand out. The last pilot who was in his way was effectively knocked over and his face planted into the ground with Thomas's foot standing on top of him. "I've been looking all over for you!"

"I can tell…"

The guard was panting from series of collisions, looking back at what he had caused and then back at the brothers.

"Seriously, I'm supposed to be leading this group as well, and we were supposed to meet beforehand so that we could arrange our procedures!"

"You just couldn't have walked around everybody to tell me this, huh?"

"I'm being serious, Ven!"

"You already said that."

"JUST SHUTUP AND LISTEN!"

The silver-haired pilot looked at Aero for a moment before finally staring back at Thomas. The sight of the markings on his face brought back a wave of memories of his previous encounters with the man, and they disturbed him to where all he could do was step back.

"We're all ears, Thomas."

"A lot of things have been delayed since we were scheduled to meet with each other, and you kept me waiting! We were also supposed to be practicing our procedures right now, but here we are instead doing this instead!"

"No one ever told me we were supposed to meet, so I'm not sure where you're getting that from."

"Well, we were."

"Well, I didn't know, and whose fault is it for me not knowing?"

"Not mine. I left you a voicemail and even e-mailed you about it, and since I thought you were responsible, I waited in one of our board meeting rooms for AN HOUR!"

Ven rolled his eyes. To him, it was unbelievable that this man was expecting what he was expecting from him.

"And you're just gonna dismiss this?!" Thomas added.

"Yo, I've been signing contracts and sparring with Aero to help us get ready for the past two days. I was told everything else was handling itself just fine, and so I went with my original schedule of just being here today and doing other things in my own time. So yes, I _am_ responsible, Thomas."

"So responsible that you don't even check your messages, huh?!"

"Are there still some people around here who don't even know that I function independently? I respond when I can, but I'm busy a lot, and I've been tightly-packed for the past few days. Besides, you could've just personally approached me. It's not like you can't figure out where I am with all these news sources making reports about me and with me and Rachel working closely together."

"Grrrrr…"

Thomas lifted his foot up off the soldier beneath him and allowed him to stand back up. The man beneath him stumbled to get back up, but the agitated guard paid him no mind and walked closer to Ven, standing over him by a foot. He clenched his fists and kept them at his side, ignoring the protests that were echoing from behind him.

"So now you're also close with Rachel, eh?" Thomas growled, looking Ven in the eye. The younger pilot shook his head in disbelief again.

"Not like that, Thomas. Jeez, she used to babysit me! We just know each other well while she keeps tabs on me. You alright with that? Shit, are you even alright in general?"

The guard suddenly loosened up, lost his eye contact with Ven and stared at the ground. He was still displeased with the situation, and even with Ven as a whole, but he attempted to keep himself in-check.

"No, not really. You're just becoming much too much too fast, and I'm trying to get a grip of it."

"Well, if we're gonna work together, then you'd better get a grip fast," the teenager stated harshly. "And I don't even like agreeing with you, but like you said, we've got work we gotta do. Plus, I'm assuming you're a lot better at talking to lots of people than we are, so why don't you start to take control from here and tell all those people behind you how things are gonna go?"

Thomas curiously looked back up at his co-leader again and noticed his gesture with his hand for him to turn around to face the pilots. He then did as he was told and looked back at the crowd he had pummeled through and took in all of their angry groans. At the beginning, they were hoping that an older man their age would be the one to lead them instead of the two teenagers, but now their opinions had been reversed. They stared at the blue-haired man with contempt, and both Ven and Aero snickered as they tried to hold back their laughter. Thomas just shot them one final glance before looking at his men again, and then it was his turn to sweat. He didn't know what he was going to say and do that would get all of the men to approve of him.

"And do tell them what it is we're going to do," Ven added.

* * *

Within the hangar there was a separate room for small meetings. It was where the commanders met for one-on-one exchanges and where interviews were conducted for soldiers who were under interrogation or needed to ask their commanders a question. At the moment, it was occupied by a group of eight white-suited men, seven of them lined up horizontally and the other one pacing in front of them. They were a commando unit that was designed to lock on to a specific target in the middle of a battle and chase after it effectively while the action was still going on.

"We have been through our drills several hundred times at this point," reminded their leader, a bulky, tanned man with long black hair that drifted down past his shoulders and reached halfway down his back. He was the boss of the commando unit, the man who organized their actions and worked with Malcolm to determine how the president wanted them to go about their missions. "The results have been turning out perfect, and with that, success should be met. We only have a few more days until our procedure will be in effect, and at that point, we must replicate everything we've done and deliver The Count directly to the cell chambers within the designated Whale King. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir," the unit responded, saluting their leader and standing stiff.

"Good. In that case, I will be sending you all on your breaks and expect each of you back within the hour. We must check on our respective zoids before the day's end to ensure that their settings are correct, and then we will run through the course one final time before I will be sending you all back. These will be our final preparations before we will spend the next day with out families and say what you will. With that, disperse!"

The soldiers lowered their arms and bowed, turning away from the commando before they each dashed out of the room one by one. They were hungry for their lunches and were quick to dart out to satisfy their stomachs. They left the commando alone, not watching him as he sat down in his chair and sighed. He took in the new wave of fresh air now that it was only him in the room and acknowledged how tired he was from the day's work. There were shadows highlighting the dark bags under his eyes as he shifted around in the seat while he whistled to himself. He had nothing else to do.

"We can't get any breaks," he muttered, staring at the walls around. "Just drill after drill after drill. I imagine that my own men hate me."

"Then perhaps you should take a break."

The dark-haired man jumped at the sound of the mellow voice. It startled him as he searched all around the room for it. There was no one else he could see anywhere, but then he heard footsteps. They were the sound of metal boots clanging against the floor, circling around him as he panicked even more and got up on his feet.

"Who…Where are you?" he stuttered as he tried to regain his calmness. The door was closed, and nothing was showing up, pushing him into moving objects around until he saw a shadow moving its way into standing on the ground in front of him. He turned around instantly to face another man with long hair whose color was silver instead of black. "Ken?"

"You are correct," the spy informed, chuckling with closed eyes. The commando, however, was not laughing.

"Jesus, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be performing more duties with your own spy group?"

"Oh, we've done all that we need to do. At this point, there's nothing more for us to discover about the Backdraft Group. All their outposts have been spotted and mapped, and there is nothing that will deter us from reaching their base. There's been no signs of any brand new zoids in their grasp, either."

"Then I guess that's good to hear," the aggravated man claimed, cooling down in the spy's presence. His breathing slowed down, and his poise began to return.

"It is. It means that everything will go according to plan."

"Great then. So of course we'll finally be able to put an end to this movement. It'll be strange though, being in The Count's presence, since I've wanted to strangle him myself on many occasions, but I've never had the chance to. Now he's going to be only feet away from me."

"So you don't want to actually capture him? You just wish to commit murder?"

"I wouldn't necessarily put it that way, but he has caused my family grief," the commando added, sitting back down and looking away from the spy as he completely calmed down. There was still a faint drip of sweat falling down his hand. "We used to be wealthy, and then the Backdraft Group started to rise up. I want my revenge, but doing so would cause me to lose my position, so I can't do it. I will just have to do what I have ordered my men to do." Ken nodded his head.

"Sounds good enough. You want to stand up for all of us, but you're also smart. For that, I truly have to commend you."

"Yeah, you do, as do I to you. We've both done a lot for the Commission, and now we're about to finally see it all come together."

"Indeed."

"And then we will be seeing celebrations parading down these streets, and we will all be getting massive paychecks and raises! That oughta show these broke rebels how much they are really worth!"

"Yes, it will."

"And then I will finally get to bring my family life back to normal!" The commando rested his arms on the table as his eyes looked into space while he pondered on about the possibilities the future would bring. He was enamored to think about how the world around him would return to peace, and the more he thought about it, the more excited he became. "I'll even get to spend more time with my five-year-old! It's fabulous to think about."

"And I'm sure it is," Ken agreed, pulling out another chair and opening his eyes so that he could sit across from the commando and look at him as they spoke.

"Yes, then I'll get him the toys that I promised! But that's all just me ranting about things that you barely care about. How about about you? Do you have anything you look forward to going back to?"

"Not exactly." The spy was making himself comfortable, shifting around until he was positioned squarely with his hands clasped together on his lap. "Well…in some sense, I suppose I do, but it's not someone that I have a great relationship with at the moment."

"Is that so? Shit, seems to be the story for a lot of people around here."

"Yes, but mine is…oh, how would I say? A bit more tragic."

"Tragic?" Ken acknowledged him again with another nod.

"Mhm. It's even been years since I last made contact with that person. But, no matter."

"No matter?" The commando raised an eyebrow at his companion while he watched him lower his head. He didn't enjoy watching soldiers among him suffer, so he was quick to jump on him. "No, it matters. You know, one of the things that I always tell my men is that they should get something off their chest if it is bothering them. It's not good to keep things bottled up, and for your sake, your performances will suffer. So go ahead, tell it to me. I'm a man who keeps things confidential."

"No, I insist as well. Besides, I'd much rather you and I actually enjoy each other's company rather than sit in each other's wallows. I mean, who knows… When it comes to the flipside, we might be approaching our final days."

"Oh, don't waste your time looking at it that way."

"And because of that, I even brought something for both of us to share…"

"Did you now?" the intrigued man queried as he watched Ken reach into his own white coat and gradually pull out two drinking cans. Their own white color shone under the room's light, and they both bobbed their heads at the sight of the drinks. "So what is it?"

"It's our favorite, the wine that you and I have shared every now and then. I just figured that while everybody else is still taking the time to set themselves up, we should be taking the time to commemorate each other's achievements. Really, we've been doing too much to not enjoy a relaxing moment while the others are working for their salary. We should just take the time to slow down for a bit."

"Really?" the commando doubtfully asked, continuing to move himself back and forth while his mouth formed a frown. "Hmmmm, perhaps you have a point. Some relaxation before our big day couldn't hurt, and it might even help keep us rested and our psyches intact."

"Exactly," Ken declared, reaching out to give one of the drinks to his friend while he smiled. "It even helps keep us in-check of what we're doing before then."

"And like what you would say, 'indeed.'"

"Indeed."

They gave each other cheers, then raised their cans to their mouths before each of them took a sip. They never brought their drinks down to take a breath of fresh air until they were empty, although Ken was locking his eyes onto commando. Then the commando's can slammed the desk right next to him, signaling that he finished.

"Ahhhh, that was great! You were right about the relief this can provide," he said, wiping the remaining liquid off his lips with his hands. "And I see you're still busy drinking."

Ken copied his motions while keeping his eyes sharply on the other man. He was staring intently at him, but the commando never noticed his expressions.

"Well, not anymore. And of course, I'm always right about these things."

"Yes, you definitely are! It amazes me, really. However, I will admit that I was kinda hoping that you would be wro-"

Then he stopped himself in his speech. He moved his hands around his stomach as he was trying to feel for something. There was a pain that hit him inside that he knew wasn't right, and then a wave of fatigue instantly hit him.

"Wow, wait…What's this? My stomach and chest are beginning to feel a little…strange…" The commando continued feeling around himself, while Ken was watching him and smirking at his pain. "You don't think there was something a bit strange in that wine, do you? Well, no, you appear to be perfectly fine…"

Then a burning sensation started welling up in his torso, causing him to grab himself and slowly keel over as his face contorted. He was groaning in pain, and even trying to reach for a breath of air. His oxygen supply was being cut off due to the contractions occurring inside his body, and his vision was beginning to blur out.

"Wait…a…second…" the fainting man groaned as he tried to look up at the spy. He was hoping to see the expression of someone willing to help him, but he only saw a grin instead, a grin that was etching itself into his eyes.

"I did tell you that you should take a break, didn't I?" the sinister spy reminded, responding to his inner pleas. Ken was chuckling again, but his laughing rose and became louder than before. However, only the two of them could hear it, with the sturdy walls around them blocking off all sound so that there was a barrier between them and what happened outside. "I know I did, so here I am giving it to you."

The dark-haired man attempted to shoot him an evil glare, but was only able to mutter out a few words, "but…why...? What do you…think you're…doing…?"

"Heheheheheheheheh… What do I think I am doing? I think…"

Ken abruptly brought his hand under the dying man's chin and forced his head up, meeting him eye-for-eye as the commando's stare grew pale.

"…that I am taking my own brand new initiative."

With his other hand, Ken reached into his coat a second time and used it to bring out a mask that resembled a person's face. The 'skin' appeared to be white while the wig on top of it was made of red curly strings. It was the mask he had used to pose as 'Xavier,' the archaeologist.

"And do you see this?" the spy stated, bringing the mask close up to the commando's face, before directly shoving it into him. "It is with this that _I_ will get to take the lead…and to make sure that your work gets to be made the most of!"

The mask then jumped out to extend around his face, and its textures began to shapeshift. Gone were the red hair and the light complexion, and along came long dark hair and dark skin. It remained latched on to the commando's face, staying there until the morphing had finished and Ken had pulled it off. With that, it gradually peeled, and the deceptive spy was giggling maniacally as he watched it come off the commando's face. All that was left was a slowly panting body that was unable to react in its weakened state. Its eyes could only twitch, because Ken was quick to take advantage of the moment and sap the energy from him with the mask. The effects of the poison he was intoxicated with had rapidly sped up, only allowing him to get one last look at the Commission's traitor before his vision began to completely go out.

"So do not worry. I have stuck around you long enough to know exactly what needs to be done, and the mission will be carried out as planned. However, certain things will play out a little…differently… Heheheheheheheheh…"

The hand that was underneath the dying man's chin was pulled back, and the body slumped over to the ground, motionless as its pupils looked toward the wall. Meanwhile, Ken threw on the mask and viciously grinned at the body, reaching his hands out for the clothes the man was wearing.

"Finally, the days have actually come," he announced as he changed his clothes. "I will get what I have been wanting for SO long… Ahahahahahahahahahahahahah…"

* * *

The docking bay for the CAS armors was rotating, then stopping in its place. It was performing the motions for an armor change, and once it finished, the Liger Zero trudged out from it, shifting its head from looking at Midnight to noticing the new zoid that had joined them: a Dibison. The new zoid was painted with the standard colors, and it caused Liger Zero to emit a low groan as he made eye contact with it.

"_Haven't seen you in a while,"_ the feline commented towards the bison.

"_Yeah. I knew you wouldn't hang around with 'old' zoids."_

"_Awww, just don't look at it that way."_

The feline continued to walk forward until it passed between the other two zoids and turned around to face them, forming a triangle formation as it kneeled down and opened its cockpit.

"At least we got the Jager to function well," Ven confirmed as the ceiling above him lifted, releasing his harness and jumping out of the zoid. "We might be taking that one into battle."

The same events happened with BEEK's and Midnight's hatches as Thomas hopped out, while Aero had to climb. The latter was still stumbling, despite his experience, and Ven caught what his brother was doing and shook his head. To him, it was hard to believe that someone who had defeated him in battle was having a hard time performing something that was supposed to be simple. In addition, Aero's last bout had still left an impression on him, so he was quick to react to his brother's maneuvers.

"Aero, you haven't learned to jump yet?" called out Ven as he watched Aero's feet hit the ground and stumble, comparing him to Thomas, the same man whom he still shared a troubled relationship with.

"I've been trying, Ven."

"Well, maybe Thomas here can help out." The guard looked at Zero's pilot with a narrow eye. "Yeah, you did hear that bit. Plus, I think you two would get along better."

"Ven, I'm strictly here for business," Thomas informed, walking towards the middle of the grouping. "You should know that much."

"And because of that, you two oughta start getting along since you're gonna work together."

"Really? And who has given you permission to make orders?"

"I got permission as soon as I was told that I was going to be a mission leader with you guys. And by the way, who even set you to working with us since we seem to be having problems? Was it Malcolm?"

"Look, we can make this real easy, or real hard, Kid."

"I know, so let's make it easy: you two make friends, and don't call me 'Kid.'"

"Ven!"

_Just shut it, all of you!_

The banter stopped, and the three of them looked at the wolf's face, waiting for her next response. Her demand had caught everyone's attention, and Thomas's in particular. He had always held on to his doubts that zoids could be sentient and communicate with humans, but those were immediately erased. Now his ears had perked up at the sound of the unfamiliar voice.

"So it _is_ true about them being alive," Thomas added, not letting his eyes fall off the blue zoid.

_You haven't all heard about us?_

"They've doubted that you two were capable of thoughts," Ven added. "Well, actually, you _three_. Trust me on that one." The guard's gaze instantly shifted from the zoid to the teenager.

"Three?"

"You haven't noticed something special about your own zoid?"

"_You're telling him too much, Ven. I don't think he can handle it,"_ Liger Zero informed.

"He's just gonna have to."

"Special?" Thomas dumbfoundedly asked. "Well, it is capable of hyper-advanced zoid-tracking and analysis, as well as adept adaptability to any environment."

"_I love this guy,"_ BEEK sarcastically groaned, picking up on every word his pilot spoke. _"I'm a zoid, and nothing more."_

"And that's all you've noticed?" Ven asked, watching as Thomas coughed. He jumped out of his own cockpit and walked towards him and Aero.

"Yes. Don't bother telling me your guys' zoids and mine are somehow similar."

The bison groaned even louder, scratching its feet against the pavement beneath it. It was as close to a response as it could muster up towards Thomas.

"That's funny, cause it doesn't seem like your zoid agrees."

"You've got to be kidding me," the guard annoyingly grunted, taking a look at his Dibison. "Too much bullshit all happening in one day."

"And more is on the way, so let's just cut to the chase before we're told to shut up again."

_You're welcome_, Midnight threw in.

The three pilots positioned themselves so they were directly in front of their own zoids. They were facing each other and exchanging glances, waiting for someone to speak up again, until someone did.

"So we're leading a ground platoon, correct?" started Ven. Thomas replied, "Yes, one that is armed with Bioraptors and Command Wolves. We may even have some Biotriceras, but I'm not sure yet."

"Cool then." The teenager folded his arms. "And we're gonna be in the frontline, correct? I'm not sure if we wanna start out our overall assault heavy or not."

"We'll be the third group to emerge. This is because apparently it would be better for you guys to jump in once the chaos has already started, because if you were both there at the start, you would have a heavy risk of going down quickly."

"Going down quickly, huh?" Ven and aero looked at each other, then back at Thomas. "So they doubt us?"

"Just be realistic here. As powerful as both of your zoids are, you both would more than likely not be able to withstand what could be the strongest part of the Backdraft Group's forces."

"Ehhhh, we've handled crazy shit before." Aero nodded, and Thomas grunted again. He was becoming increasingly frustrated with their attitudes, and kept up the groaning until Ven continued, "but whatever, we're gonna follow orders."

"Yes, you will," the guard reassured as he relaxed himself, "and even I think you would both be more effective if you two could deliver surprise attacks. If they can't see you two coming, you'd both be able to damage them heavily before you're both noticed." The brothers bobbed their heads in curiosity.

"That's true," Aero added, inputting his first thought into the conversation. "Me and Midnighty can just shoot the hell outta them."

"_Is that what he calls you?" _the feline asked to the wolf. She sweatdropped.

"_It helps us get along."_

"_Really? Cause I would kill Ven if he gave me a name like that."_

"_You just gotta make compromises, friend."_ BEEK groaned again at Midnight's comment.

"_Tell me about it,"_ the Dibison stated.

"And I'm gonna be alongside you guys," Thomas continued. "I can also provide heavy fire while our forces disperse. Really, though, I don't know how I ended up with the both of you."

"Probably because you would need our assistance in battle."

"Just spare me. Anyway, we just gotta plan what we'll do from there. We've been assigned to stick to attacking a specific section of their base while the other platoons handle the other sides. We're aiming for the Northeastern part. However, we can also assist or move on to the other regions once everything gets going."

"Then it sounds like it's a pretty done deal."

"Not quite. We're still gonna have to figure out who's going to be dishing out all the orders among us. I reckon I'd be the best fit since my zoid gathers data about what's going on the most efficiently. I'll have everything that needs to be relayed at my disposal."

Both of the younger pilots casually swayed their heads again, opening and shutting their eyes. They were reacting to their companion's attitude moreso than his words, and his self-confidence wasn't growing on them. In addition, Liger Zero and Midnight moved in their spot in agitation, while BEEK didn't budge.

"I guess so," Ven eventually remarked. "I hate to say it, but I'm gonna have a hard time doubting that."

"Exactly, so you'll all have to do exactly as I say."

"And now you're getting ahead of yourself. We're leaders here, too, ya know! You better believe we're gonna say something if we feel the need to."

"Go ahead. Just don't be so inferior since I'll be telling you all that you'll need to hear."

"Ugh..."

* * *

**Liger Zero's POV**

I really have a hard time believing it. I'm listening to Ven taking on a leadership role, and it just shows me how much more he is changing. It's almost scary, because he's beginning to resemble another pilot that I used to be close with-

GAH! I need to stop thinking about that. He's in the past now, and I have to stick to my general mission of helping this world out, conquering the Backdraft Group for good! And then hopefully things will know peace. At least, that is what I sincerely hope, even though I still don't know the reasons behind so many things. The presence of my armors has still been bothering me. I am about to head into saving this world, yet I have to live on knowing that somebody found the plans to make those. Whoever got them had to have been someone who was highly trained in research skills. Speaking of which, I never even asked Ven for the name of the person that provided him with the armors' details. I know he works for the Commission, but I feel that I should know him personally. Maybe that would just be my way of telling him 'Thank you.'

Whatever, though. I can't focus on that. Within a couple days, I will be finishing off the Backdraft Group again, and I must keep my mind on that. Too many innocent people are counting on me, so I must deliver for them. Although, defeating this organization again really does bring back memories of the last time I did this…

Oh, what the hell. I'm just scared to know if 'he' is going to somehow show up again…or not… I don't know if he's still alive and out there somewhere, but if he is, he could pose a threat at any moment, and this time, I might not be prepared for him…

* * *

The activity at the Backdraft's base was at its lowest. There was an air of broken emotion within the people, and many of them were unaware of Ragnarok's absence. Those who did know about his mission were glued to their TV sets in the hopes that he would come back with news. His mission in finding in the Berzerk Fuhrer was kept confidential for the most part, and the only way word about it got out was through leaks and gossip. Even The Count hadn't obtained word about it until much later. It was hard for him to find out about it, even as he put in his best efforts to search for the commander himself. However, it was as close to the way Ragnarok had wanted it, because he knew of the consequences for him being discovered.

The cloudy sky remained as it had always been. It had never changed, and the commander within his zoid that was being pulled on the Gustav looked toward it with contempt. Sitting within the Berzerk Fuhrer, he saw a future ahead of them that no one else besides those who accompanied him could see.

"I wonder what that bald man's expression is going to be," murmured Ragnarok as his group continued strolling through the flat mountain ranges. The Storm Sworders were flying, while the Guysaks were being pulled by other carriers. "He isn't expecting anything like this to show up. At last, I'll finally be able to prove to him what I am worth!"

They kept moving through the rocky terrain and eventually made it to the outskirts of the base. From there, the citizens who were walking about were able to instantly notice them, and at the sight of them and the Berzerk Fuhrer, they clamored and fled back into their buildings to make way. They as were as shocked as anyone else would be.

"And even those who know us flee," Ragnarok commented. "Goes to show what it is we must have."

"Sir, do you want us to drop you off inside the hangar?" interrupted the Gustav's driver.

"Yes. In fact, direct us all there. Once we get there, we should have a separate spot for the Berzerk Fuhrer. I'll figure the rest out."

"Roger that."

The reconnaissance group strolled in-between the buildings, listening to the gasps and crowds that were forming around them. It wasn't too long until they had a flock forming at the sight of the new zoid, and the people were further surprised by its motionless behavior.

"_These humans…"_ the zoid deeply growled. _"So many of them… Things are different here…"_

"Do not fret," reassured Ragnarok. "They are our allies. We're all allies, part of the Backdraft Group."

"_That's what I thought… And as for you, do not forget what our relationship is. I only care about the Liger Zero."_

"I understand our terms. After that, you may do as you please. Just do not expect the world around you to be caring towards you right afterwards."

"_They will all…die…"_

"That's the spirit."

They were quickly at the hangar, and once they were, all of the pilots and engineers stepped out of their way and formed a pathway. Ragnarok had radioed them prior to appearing so that they would be ready for his and Fuhrer's appearance. A pathway through the hangar was lit up, there to provide the way towards a larger empty stall.

"Thank you, men," the commander greeted as soon as they arrived. Once there was room, he pushed the Fuhrer into jumping off of the Gustav's platform, letting the zoid roar in the process.

"_I haven't felt this freedom…in a long time."_

"Welcome to the world again, Fuhrer. Now let's move."

The massive zoid walked through the formation of men that stood next to its sides. More chatter was stirred up by its presence, and camera flashes were going off at every angle as a way of celebrating. However, the zoid ignored them as it continued forward.

The path was not long, as all the Fuhrer had to do was turn around a corner. It would have otherwise stopped at the same spot the Konig Wolf had, but even walking around there disturbed those who were hard at work. All they had to do was watch another zoid go to that spot and they would get disturbed. It brought back memories of the previous blow their base had suffered, and so Ragnarok did his best to avoid it. However, as pleased as he had left others, his own pleasure was inverted as soon as he laid eyes upon a bald man with his arms crossed standing just across from his stall.

"People just cannot keep their mouths shut around here," the commander complained to no one but himself. "Thank Eve I at least took pain meds as soon as we left to return. My leg won't make me look like a fool when I approach him."

Through the zoid's screen, he kept watching The Count, and his stare through was returned through the older man's glasses. The Backdraft's president had been waiting for him to come back.

The Berzerk Fuhrer repositioned itself by gradually twisting around and backing up into the reserved space behind it. Just then, the workers began to gather in front of the zoid, watching as the glowing eyes shut off and the head opened. Among them, it was The Count who maintained his poise without cheering or clapping. He had come for other reasons than to celebrate, and Ragnarok knew this as he stepped out onto the surface by his side. He stood on a descending platform as he prepped himself to take in the surrounding excitement and the anger.

He was on ground level, and as soon as he was, a swarm of workers closed in on him. Questions were coming from each of the men who were taking a break. They were usually never deterred, but the presence of a zoid that was historic to them, as well as knowing that their own commander was the one who had retrieved it, had left them in a frenzy. They were asking to know what was going to happen next, and a few of them were demanding to know immediately.

"We'll have things figured out in due time," Ragnarok reassured, looking towards The Count as he attempted to brush the people off. The green eyes were sharp and holding on to their steady gaze. They informed Ragnarok what was going to happen to him next. "But before then, I have someone that I must speak to. I'll be available for more questions later on today.

And so the frustrated Ragnarok pushed through them and towards The Count, who stayed motionless in his spot as his eyes followed the commander's every movement. The two of them were only feet away from each other in a moment, and the workers refused to leave them while they were in the background.

"I can see that you brought something back," the older man began, switching his gaze from the Fuhrer to his ex-Top Commander.

"I have, and I know that it is in our best interests," declared Ragnarok, his eyes shaking as he met The Count's stare.

"Is it now? I don't remember sending you out to go find something like this."

"No, you didn't, but does it really matter now? We have it, the very thing that could turn things around."

"That had better be what it is, and it does matter. You've broken my trust in you time and time again as of late, and now you're telling me that you have a promise."

"What else besides that would I have? This zoid here is for our purpose. No negotiations are needed."

"And now you're even taking control of things?! Is it that hard for you to remember your current position?!"

"No Sir, because _I_ am the one who just brought back the Berzerk Fuhrer," the commander noted, raising his voice. He was intent on not allowing The Count to rule over him any longer. Not while he still had something to say. "I know my position very well. My cause has been a success, and yours has been failing."

The Count pulled off his glasses as he growled at the same time.

"Grrrrrrr… A success?! How do we even know if this thing is completely functional?!" Ragnarok's mouth curved into a sly smile, his nervousness and frustration disappearing. He immediately knew his own next response, and was excited by watching their dynamic change.

"I could very easily demonstrate. All I need is some outdoor space to perform what I'm requesting."

"You're asking for a privilege? WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOUR… Urrggghhh…"

The angry man's glasses dropped, and the frames broke as they hit the ground. The Count wiped his face with his other hand, while Ragnarok's smile grew.

"I may not be in my highest position, but I'm still worthwhile and can offer a lot, as you can tell. In fact, I think I can manage a lot of the things that happen around here and keep everybody happy as long as I can continue to perform more work which provides us with resources such as what's behind me."

"You… Gargh…"

The Count was looking around the place, trying to swallow the sturdy man's words. The situation was hard for him to admit, because his sense of power had been overrun. There was nothing for him to fall back on, and for once, Ragnarok had ousted him. Ragnarok was now the one with the influence all across the Backdraft Group, and everyone would support him. The Count would have to provide for him in order to maintain his own public image.

"Do whatever it is you will, then," the flustered man hesitantly allowed. "But cause any ruckus in this place and I will have my own men after you. You know what it is that we can and can't afford."

Ragnarok bowed in response, holding on to his graceful expression. He was even more thrilled about the possibilities he could initiate within the Backdraft Group now that he had more control, and he flashed up a 'thumbs up' to the group that was still behind him, waiting for the chatter to begin. There was now a renewed form of an alliance between the Backdraft's leader and its most well-renowned soldier, but the former still found it harsh. He kept rubbing his chin, hoping that things would sway.

"And so we finally agree with each other again," Ragnarok added, raising himself back up with stiff posture.

"Do not form interpretations yet. We are only held together by a contract, and you would do best to remember that. There is nothing else between us other than business."

"That has always been the case. Now, I have many people that are waiting to hear from me again, and I must respond."

"Yes, your presence has caused quite the stir. Now leave."

The two of them split up, with Ragnarok heading back to the Fuhrer with a stern face while The Count continued grumbling to himself. He missed the position of power that he was proud of, despite still being the one who maintained the Backdraft Group. Whatever would happen was now in the hands of those who controlled the zoid they had been wishing for to return, and he hated to admit that even he was mildly impressed.

He looked at the Fuhrer with a renewed hope, watching as the eyes seemingly looked back at him. He could sense a disturbance within it, and couldn't help but to grin himself. He wasn't sure how he felt about its pilot, but he was sure that he was sure that the zoid itself would be an aid. He was sure that it would be their strongest instrument against the Commission, and its glowing eyes confirmed that in his mind.

Meanwhile, the commander returned to the growing crowd around his zoid, and watched as The Count walked away in contempt. He shook his head at The Count, understanding what he was thinking about. He watched him until he was gone, and then laughed alongside the others who were with him.

"He finally understands all the bullshit that he's put me through. About time." Then everyone else started chipping in.

"He's been being an ass lately. He blames you, but he's the one with the issues."

"It would seem so. And is John anywhere? I need to introduce him to this zoid."

"He should be returning from his Break period soon. He left about an hour ago."

"Good, then. I'm sure he'll love the sight of this. I'll want him to see it before we begin any sort of field testing."

"That old man is nearly out of it. Not sure how many years he's got left."

"He's got more than enough to handle something like this. Isn't that right, Fuhrer?" Ragnarok asked, looking up at the tyrannosaurus above. He only got quiet audible response.

"_Grrr…"_

"Exactly what I needed to hear. Heheheh…"

The engineers and pilots looked at the two of them in confusion. They kept giving the commander looks, hoping that he would pick up on their questions, and he did. He returned their expressions with a sharp, "In the meantime, get back to work! We have a lot of progress to be made, and it starts now. Like I said, I'm unavailable for questions, and you can ask John all that you want after I'm gone. Too many announcements and meetings I'm going to have to attend."

The workers maintained their glares, then walked away. They knew talking back wasn't going to give them the answers they wanted, so they backed off instead. They were back at their work soon, taking glances at the Berzerk Fuhrer and Ragnarok as the human and the zoid faced each other. Most of them were even more confused, because they didn't know of the relationship between the two.

"You and I are going to be the center of attention from now on," Ragnarok reminded, watching as the silver head craned to look down at him. The mouth opened with a grumble.

"_No matter. As long as get my revenge…nothing else matters."_

"And we shall make you proud." Ragnarok swung his right arm to his left shoulder and then back, performing the Backdraft salute. "We will both work together to serve each other's needs. And besides, our urges for revenge are really just the same. The Liger Zero is a part of what we are ultimately targeting."

"_Then so be it, but do not…make me regret awakening myself. You know what my one purpose is, and we will have…problems if it is not met."_

"I have no concerns, and neither should you."

"_Good… Good… Then I shall rest until I am needed."_

"That's fine, but do not grow tiresome. Nobody here will be giving us a break."

"…"

"And I will leave you to be for the time being. However, I will be back soon with a guest. Do be prepared."

"_Whatever…"_

Ragnarok smirked at the zoid, appreciating its attitude. They both understood what they wanted and saw nothing else between them. They were a zoid and a pilot who could communicate and nothing more. It was what served them best and what they enjoyed, even though they knew they would be questioned by everyone around them. This was what bugged Ragnarok as he turned around to look at the men who were occasionally shooting him expressions. They were eager for an explanation, and he didn't know how to provide it. He sighed as he tried to figure out a lie to tell.

'_What will they buy into? Maybe the idea that there is a radio installed within it that allows me to communicate with the other commanders? Wait… Yes! Perfect!'_

Then his eyes slanted, displaying his determination. He walked towards the workers, aware of what they were still thinking.

"No need to fret," he reassured, looking at each of them, "it's how I now stay in contact with the other higher-ups. It's a long story as to why, and I'm not even allowed to share, so don't bother asking. Just continue what each of you are doing as I expect a report on the condition of our zoids by the end of the week. Now, please excuse me as I contact John to set up a meeting spot with him. He and I need to arrange a few things."

And so the hopeful commander trudged out of the hangar and turned around it, evading the parading crowd that was growing outside of the Backdraft's military's perimeters. He was alone by himself, and flipped on his earpiece to seek out his favorite engineer.

* * *

A Whale King's mouth opened wide as it rested on the launch pad within Remma's perimeters. Squadron after squadron of zoids were being loaded into it as they walked up the available pathway. They were all a mix of all of the Commission's various ground zoids, from Command Wolves to Biozoids, and among them were one Liger Zero, one Konig Wolf, and one Dibison. Those three remained grouped together, leading another batch into the inner workings of the large zoid.

"Looks like everything's going smooth," Ven commented, scanning all around him. Then he reached out to his brother, "You doin' alright, Aero?"

Only a grumble emanated through the Liger Zero's speakers. The preteen had maintained his subtlety the entire time, not willing to start a conversation with his older brother.

"Aero, this is seriously a bad time for this. Would you rather just be one of our regulars instead of being one of our leaders? Cause I can tell it's gonna be hard to work with you."

"No! Just…let me handle things myself. I can be my own pilot."

"We're a team for Eve's sake! You can't be that at the moment!"

"I can if I want to!"

"Do you want to risk us failing? How does your zoid even feel about that?"

_He's right, Aero_, the Konig Wolf added as she walked alongside Liger and BEEK. _You have to be willing to cooperate during this, or it could cost us. Plus, _I _want to ensure that we win, since I have my own problems with this…Backdraft Group._

"Oh, alright," Aero moaned, slumping in his seat. "Ven, I won't forget this."

"I really hope you don't." Then Thomas intervened, providing them with a status update.

"Once we get in, our section of the hangar will be after the second intersection inside. I don't know what you two have seen inside of a Whale King, but intersections are how we separate large regiments from one another. It's very divisive in there. Us three will be parking ourselves at the back of our section since we are the first ones to going in. We must remain orderly."

"We gotcha," Ven confirmed.

The rest of the forces then filled in, quickly occupying the interiors of the massive zoid as the stalls were gradually taken. There was no room left for anymore ground zoids after time passed, and the flyers were already loaded beforehand. All that was eventually left was the closing of the maw. The sunlight left the packed interiors, and once everything was arranged, all the hatches of the zoids inside began to open up, letting the pilots climb out while they cheered to each other, celebrating the success they were hoping for.

"Jeez, these guys sure are excitable, aren't they?" Ven asked. He was the first to speak up as soon as he saw his Thomas's zoid across from him. No response came until the security guard hit the ground, waiting for the other two to join him.

"They've been waiting for this day for years, and so have I. This could prove to be the end to our biggest threat."

"I know, but still. They're crazy!"

The two brothers got out of their zoids as quickly as they could while Aero had difficulty, and met up with their one companion. Each of them were taking their time adjusting to the hostile environment that was developing around them. Nobody was calm other than themselves, and even the single security guard was beginning to be taken by surprise. Men were brushing around them at all angles, gathering their personal supplies as they traveled towards the stairways that led them to their rooms.

"Aero, I know you're in a bad mood," Ven muttered, leaning towards the smaller pilot, "but please don't become anything like these guys."

"Why do you gotta be this way?!" the preteen frustratedly retorted, throwing his fists down and shrugging up his shoulders. Ven slowly raised his hands up in self-defense.

"I'm just tryna get you to relax with a joke or two."

"Hrrmmmmmppphhhhhh!"

"Can you two just please get along for once?"

"That's…kinda hard," the teenager replied.

"Well at least until we reach Rachel? By the way, we should meet up with her so that we can stay updated on what's happening along the way, AND we should also try not to embarrass ourselves in front of everyone else." It was a personal jab at the siblings, and one that irritated Ven as he shot a dirty glare at Thomas and encouraged him to retaliate.

"Oh look who's talking." This made Thomas tighten up his entire body.

"Like I said, we will remain calm so that we don't start a ruckus. No questions asked."

"Mhm." The siblings nodded, then stared at each other again. "So let's get going, and before a stampede is underway."

Thomas nodded, and along with them, he ran towards the closest stairway alongside the rest of the pilots, leaving their own zoids to themselves.

"_So who wants to bet that they'll end up screaming at each other?"_ Midnight questioned to her two allies as they disappeared, one of which was right next to her while the other was on the other side. The soldiers who were passing by heard the grumbles, but passed them off as their pilots still trying to decide when to get out. They didn't grow suspicious, even when they noticed the Liger Zero joining in responding to the moans.

"_Let's just focus on ourselves at the moment. We're the ones who are going to be getting shot at. I also like how our pilots didn't even say goodbye,"_ growled the feline in response. _"So typical of Ven. He just keeps on becoming more like…well, you guys know."_

"_Oh, come on, Zero,"_ piped the wolf. _"That reminds me: did you even tell him everything yet?"_

"_Not really. I still don't know how I…feel about some of these things…"_

Liger Zero lowered his head in slight depression, recalling once again the memories of events past. Meanwhile, Midnight grew agitated with his lack of action.

"_Feel? Zero, you're wasting time here. Even after all this is said and done, which, mark my words, it WILL be, you're just going to have to completely open up to him sooner or later. You're still going to be in this world with the kid once we come back."_

"_You've got so much confidence…I guess someone like me should have just that at the moment. Hell, I don't even know why I'm feeling like this right now. Probably because I'm about to head into finishing the Backdraft Group again."_

"_Well, cheer up!"_ the Konig Wolf growled. This time, some of the pilots who were passing by were startled, but they still came to the same conclusion._ "This is something you should be looking forward to! I'm getting something I've been looking forward to ever since that wretched…I don't know what they call him. I think it was 'Ragnarok.' He used and abused me, even though I was tryin' to connect with my pilot."_

"_Yes, I've heard that story."_

"_And to help move you along, you even once told me that you would tell him everything around now, when we'd end the Backdraft Group."_

"_I said after we beat them."_

"_Oh…Well…I have nothing to say. Nothing. But please do tell him then, cause I don't like seeing you like this."_

"_I'm sure… And you're being unusual today. What gives? Because you're usually so much more tame."_

"_What gives? I'm finally going to get to finish what I started there!"_

"_What you started there?"_ It was a story Liger Zero had never heard from her, and he was shocked. The Konig Wolf typically shared many stories with him, yet here was something new.

"_I haven't told you about that?"_ The feline's head shook sideways, causing her to feel surprised as well. _"Well, I guess not. When I was still coming to my senses to the world around me, they had held me up in one of their hangars. They wanted to keep me, but I would have none of it. I was determined to not be swayed from my destiny, and I could sense the evil that was around me within this group, so I attacked. That's when the part where their commander struck me down comes in…"_

Both the Dibison and the Liger Zero just motionlessly stared at her. They maintained it long enough to disturb her, so that she was forced to take guesses regarding their looks.

"_What? Is it that surprising?"_

"_I know that you're headstrong," _Zero grumbled,_ "but I couldn't imagine you attacking people out of anger."_

"_Tsk, you're still learning about me. Honestly, I'm still learning about myself just like you, and just like-"_

She stopped when she looked at BEEK, realizing that the Dibison was a zoid that she didn't really know.

"_Well, I don't think I've really met you, come to think of it," _Midnight continued.

"_Just keep me out of the convo."_

"_Don't try that. We're just going to be mean."_

"_Then be mean."_

"_Damn you."_

"_Damn me."_

"_Let's just hope those three don't leave us in the dark again,"_ Zero jumped back in, commenting on Ven, Aero, and Thomas. _"We need to know everything that's going to happen as well."_

"_I'm sure they will,"_ reassured Midnight. _"At least Aero has gotten better at communicating."_

"_I noticed. I guess being around you has done a number on him."_

"_You imply that I'm doing bad things."_

"_Not necessarily,"_ Zero grunted, feeling the ground beneath him beginning to shake. Everyone was gone except for them, leaving them completely to themselves. _"And I guess this is it. We're heading off to win."_

"_Yes! And besides beating you, I've been without action for a long time. No, don't feel bad, Zero. It wasn't harsh."_

(Liger Zero sweatdrops)

"_You're real good at making others comfortable," _Zero added._ "Seriously, you talk about getting your pilot to grow up, but I think he's the one who's changing you."_

"_More riff raff."_

"_Oh, Midnight…"_

And so the three zoids were left to themselves amongst the ground forces while the Whale King began to take off. Until their pilots returned, they were all alone, pondering their next mission, and while Midnight and BEEK began to 'talk' with one another, it was Liger Zero who remained worried, despite the uplifting words he had been receiving. He looked at his two companions and noticed that they managed to remain confident the entire time, while the he was trying to guess the future. He was nervous about what could happen, because none of his past experiences had ever gone according to plan.

Never.


	23. Battle at the Homefront

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids. Zoids is copyrighted to Tomy. All I own are the original characters (excluding Aero and Midnight) and any original zoids (if I make any).

* * *

**The Backdraft Arc (Arc Finale)**

**Battle at the Homefront**

Over a dozen Whale Kings flew high above the cloudy skies, gradually beginning to disperse as they came closer and closer to their target. They were pushing their way through the mists that were rising up as Ven, Aero, and Thomas stood in the bridge and watched the red dots on their maps representing them beginning to assume formation. They each looked up at the outside sight in front of them, awaiting further orders.

"You guys all ready?" Rachel asked, looking away from her computer beside them. "It's gonna be the time of your life out there."

"More than that," Ven announced, turning off the 3D display of the map he held in front of him. "It's gonna be a day in history."

"For once, I agree," added Thomas, copying the teenager's motion. Aero, for the sake of looking cool, did the same.

"I'd suggest you guys rally up your regiment and start preparing. By the time you guys say all you want to say to them, we'll be starting to land outside their ranges. You guys know what to do from there."

The trio nodded, as well as everybody else in the room, giving the clouds one final glance before they turned to exit the Bridge. Ven was the first to go while giving one last glance at the room before his brother followed him, followed by Thomas. They walked out without a word, until they were all alone.

"Now we're in for it," the teenage pilot claimed. No longer the center of attention, he began to tremble, even as he did his best to maintain his posture. Thomas flicked on his own earpiece and called out to the members of their squad.

"Attention, meet up at the hangar around the Liger Zero, Konig Wolf, and the Dibison! Further debriefing will be taking place in ten minutes!" He flicked it off, looking at his two allies. "We gotta be organized, starting now."

"We got you."

Then the trio picked up the pace, quickly striding towards their zoids.

* * *

"You're certainly looking well," complimented John to Ragnarok as he looked up at the Berzerk Fuhrer. "And this here is a major piece of work."

"And people doubted that I was capable of great things," the rigid commander reminded.

"Well your entire method for obtaining this thing certainly was 'out there.' I'd almost be willing to call it luck that you brought it back."

"Spare me the jokes and let's get straight to the point. Since you're the lead engineer, I need to know if there's any updates you see that can be made. Anything critical here?"

The old man raised a hand to his forehead as he shook his head. He chuckled.

"You never waste time. Never."

"No, I do not. You can thank all the pressure."

"I'm sure," the engineer said, looking down at Ragnarok's legs, the same ones that had been unable to walk earlier. He noticed a tremble in them, and Ragnarok noticed that he noticed, looking his companion in the eye.

"Plus, I'm feeling better than ever, so please, get to it."

"Pain medication isn't going to spare you much."

"I'm sure the Fuhrer would like to hear something about it from a person like you."

"You might want to keep your wheelchair nearby in case they give out soon."

"In addition, the sooner we know something, the better-equipped we will be whenever another fight starts."

"Trust me, meds can wear off faster than you think."

"And a man such as me senses another battle coming soon."

"You're being arrogant, commander."

"My 'arrogance' has proved invaluable lately, so I appreciate the compliment."

"Urgh…" John grumbled, being compliant and looking back up at the looming zoid. He reported, "I see nothing wrong with it. The armor is in tip-top condition, and the weaponry is among the most advanced I have ever seen. We'd need to conduct field-testing for more information."

"Then we should get right to it. We do have The Count's permission, after all."

"Do we?" The engineer doubtfully pressed. "You've even proven yourself invaluable to him?"

"Your answer is in front of you. Now let's get to it. The more time we waste, the more opportunities become available to the Commission."

The commander moved onto the platform as he rose up to the zoid's head, with John staring at him in the process. The old man rubbed his chin as he admired his commander's confidence, even though he despised it at other times.

"Well, I already know that I can't argue with you," the old man added. "You'll have to set things up yourself. Some don't even know yet that this zoid is here, so they won't believe someone like me."

"They'll know, and they'll listen," Ragnarok snarkily declared as he climbed into the dinosaur's seat, strapping himself in with the harness and gripping the controls. His eyes met John's one last time before a see-through wall separated them.

"I hope so." As the Fuhrer roared to life, John looked back to the ground, whispering, "Cause if they don't, I know you'll flare up as always."

The engineer stepped out of the way as the hulking mass made its way out of the stall and out into the open where the residents could see it again.

"Your first taste of action is coming up Fuhrer."

"_It's been so…long…"_

"I know it has. However, this is just a test, so don't go crazy. Understood?"

"_It does not matter to me either way."_

"Good then. Let's start moving towards the outside of the ranges. I'll have a simulation set up for us there."

"_Roger…"_

The Fuhrer twisted around and slowly began trudging down the open pathway before it stopped in its tracks, dismantling Ragnarok's control over it. It instantly twisted back around and looked towards the dark clouds in the sky.

"Something wrong? Cause we have work we have to get to," demanded an irritated Ragnarok. He kept trying to maneuver the zoid however he wished, but there was no success. Nothing was budging at his command.

"_Something is coming… A threat."_

"A threat? You mean an attack?"

"_Yes…an attack… I sense something powerful amongst them."_

"Them?!" Ragnarok shook his head in anger and digested the zoid's words. "How do I know that you aren't just going out of it? You did just wake up, after all."

"_Maybe so…"_ Berzerk Fuhrer growled. _"Whatever, let's go."_

Then it turned around again and gave back full control to Ragnarok. The disturbed man was quick in getting the zoid to move again, but even as he did, he continued to look glumly in front, still taking in what he had said. After a few minutes had passed, Ragnarok decided he needed to place his trust in the Fuhrer.

"I'll arrange for extra defenses to be set up just in case. Nothing is going to hit us by surprise."

Berzerk Fuhrer didn't respond, and as a crowd began to form alongside them again, the commander opened up a transmission relay to the other commanders and lieutenants to scan for anything incoming. He would make sure that they were prepared and ready.

* * *

A loud gust of wind was blowing away from a Whale King as it landed on the dark, rocky surface. It was positioned a few miles away from the mountains that surrounded the Backdraft Group's base, opening its maw slowly as the noise quieted, and a stream of Biozoids began to flow out, forming a two-line regiment that was trudging towards a wide canyon. After them, a Konig Wolf, a Liger Zero, and a Dibison came out, with a trail of Command Wolves following them.

"Maintain the same pace throughout," ordered Thomas to the rest of his group. "This is how we will stay organized, and if we fail to do so, the mission could be a disaster. Everything will be at stake."

The leading trio moved down the slope and onto the forming trail where they followed behind the Biozoids in front of them. Both Aero and Ven looked at them with stern faces, while their zoids were trying to comprehend the situation.

"_Here we are… Take two,"_ Zero grumbled alongside BEEK, who did the same.

"_Not gonna be our last battle, will it?"_

"_I almost thought it would be mine the last time I ended them, but here I am."_

At the same time, a particular memory returned to Liger Zero. It was a recollection of the Berzerk Fuhrer staring him down on top of an old and dirtied Ultrasaurus. It was his last beatdown-to-the-death with his former foe, and the feeling he got when he fought it was returning, sending a message into his mind that he instantly directed to his pilot.

"_Hey Ven,"_ Liger Zero called, sucking away the teenager's attention.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"_Remember when I told you about the other Ultimate X, and how we thought it could possibly return?"_

"Yeah. You getting goosebumps?"

"_Honestly…I kind of am, because I'm sensing something strange."_

Ven sighed within the cockpit, daydreaming about the story the feline had shared with him and trying to imagine himself up against the Fuhrer. He maintained the expression as he tried to figure out a coping method, and then he responded.

"That's why we have all this. We've got Thomas, Aero, Midnight, and BEEK to help us out, so you won't be alone."

"_I'm not worried about being alone… It's just the feeling of possibly seeing him again and knowing what he can do to the others. It'll really demand a lot from us."_

"I know, and we know, but we have everything set up to deal with something like him. Really, we just need to keep our focus on the mission ahead."

"_I guess so… You guys are all so reassuring."_

"Us guys? Who else was saying things to you?"

"_Nevermind... I'd rather not explain."_

Ven briefly glanced at the blue wolf that was a couple zoids to their right and smirked, thinking about the relationship they were all sharing and the value of it to himself. It was something none of them thought they would ever have, but they could barely think about it as the ranges became clearer.

"_You guys aren't being all sobby over there, are you?"_ Midnight asked out loud, drawing her companions' attention. _"Cause I'm not. There's no excuse to be."_

"_And there you go again…"_ the Liger grumbled again.

"_What? At least I'm bringing confidence! I know I'm usually the low-key type, but this isn't the time for that. It's not the time for any of us to be like that!"_

"_I got nothing to say."_

"_Good!"_

The movement in front of them stopped. Then the rest of them did. Everything in front of them was completely stiff, which offset their initial intentions.

"What the hell?" Ven groaned, leaning in to get a better look at the scenery in front of him. "Yo, Thomas! You got any idea what's happening?"

"No clue," the guard buzzed back. "I'll try to contact the other group leaders ahead of us. If that fails, then we know we're in trouble. Then I'll try to scan ahead."

"Roger…that."

At the very front of the attack force was a line of Bioraptors roaring and staring down a group of Guysacks and Deathpions that were in their way, completely ready for them and attempting to scare them back. All of the Commission's zoids were hesitant until they received the order to attack, as they were ready for combat and unwilling to wait any longer. It was the day they had all been waiting for, so they all followed suit. They charged and jumped on their foes, initiating the gunfire and encouraging the army of zoids behind them and all around the base's perimeters to start fighting. Explosions began to ring from all over the place, which forced the Backdraft citizens to flee from the incoming invaders as best as they could, or flee to their own zoids and defend themselves.

"Seems like things are moving again," Thomas commented, listening to the combat in the distance. "Now let's get in there!"

"_Yes,"_ Midnight roared, along with several of the other zoids around her.

They began running quickly as the worn down buildings of the Backdraft's base came into sight. For them, things were going smoothly, and the day they had dreamed of was looking every bit like how they wanted it to. The Commission's zoids were beginning to flood the area, which allowed BEEK, Liger Zero, and Midnight to squeeze in and to start firing away at the black zoids that were spawning in the midst of the chaos.

"Looks like they were somewhat prepared," Ven mentioned as he moved Zero out of the way to allow the Command Wolves behind him to join the fray, shooting the various Baratz zoids that were trying to approach him and his allies. "I wonder why. They've got defenses and everything set up for us."

"Remember, Ven, a lot of things don't go as planned," Thomas reminded. "But it doesn't matter, cause we've got them right where we want them!"

"Yeah," the teenage groaned, wiping the dripping sweat off his face as he aimed for his next target. "And let's try not to be psycho in the process. I don't want to be anything like them."

"Relax, it's bound to happen. Besides, this is REVENGE!"

In the meantime, Aero was rapidly running Midnight all around the base, plowing her through houses and factories while taking potshots at all of the enemies that saw him. He was the Backdraft pilots' universal target that they all attempted to center around, with dozens of them coming his way and trying to hole him up.

_Did you guys miss me?_ Midnight sinisterly snickered, crouching before pouncing on the Guysack in front of her and shooting the one behind it. _Oh yeah, and there won't be any trickery this time!_

The battle continued, with small fires breaking out around the outskirts of the base as row after row of Cannon Tortoises and Gunsipers deployed on the higher regions of the mountains. Pterases and Redlers backed them up as dozens of Storm Sworders took to the skies and aimed for them. Some of the artillery managed to shoot them down while others didn't and fell down towards the warzone after being shot down. Some of those who fell were able to get back up and join the fight up-close, serving as aids that shot down all who came close. It wasn't long before a large chunk of the territory was reduced to rubble, with zoids constantly falling to their deaths and detonating at every spot.

"We are just wrecking house," Ven added again, taking a breather and watching as the Command Wolves, Godoses, Bio Raptors, and Bio Triceras danced around in front of him. All the constant twisting and turning left him panting in his cockpit, waiting until something would go after him again.

"_Don't let your guard down,"_ Liger Zero mumbled as he looked out for everything around him. _"Just because I'm an Ultimate X, doesn't mean we're invincible. You know that."_

"Yeah, but there's nothing around us at the moment."

Almost as a response, a Rev Raptor cut away at the feline from its back and knocked it several feet forward, thrusting Ven against his harness and forcing a grunt out of him. Then, as he took notice of the zoid, he seethed with frustration and instantly spun the Liger Zero around to face the growing pack of zoids.

"GodDAMN THESE PIECES OF TRASH!"

The claws and armor vents began to shine, and he charged for the zoids as they attempted to back up in terror. However, their opponent was too quick, and a fast Strike Lazer Claw went through them before the fierce zoid tore away at each of them up close. Then he was quick to jump on the other zoids nearby, and even a Storm Sworder who flew low.

"That's it, I'll take what Thomas said! If my life is on the line, as well as the millions of others who are innocent, then I'm just gonna lose it to these guys! RRRRAAAAGGGHHHHH!"

"_Oh Eve…Then again, I hate these guys too!"_

The feline dashed through its ally zoids and struck down one Deathpion and Guysack after another, juggling between shooting them and striking them down with its claws. He received multiple scratches and lacerations in the process, but none of them were enough to his performance. They were after victory, as well as the Dibison who was firing off missiles behind them and the blue Konig Wolf who decided to run alongside them a few times.

"_Now you're getting into it,"_ Midnight complimented as she began to slow down and started charging her barrels, shooting a series of charged beams at the columns in front of her, while Zero took to their sides and struck down everything she missed. They maintained their teamwork strategy, which left everything they were up against helpless.

"Let's keep this up, Liger!"

The black and white zoid roared in approval as it began to sprint towards the base's hangar and scare away the engineers who were working to get their other zoids into the fray. Ven commanded a few of his subordinates to follow him and others to stay with his brother and Thomas. Those who were running with him attempted to line up alongside him as they began taking potshots at the source of many of the dark zoids that were spawning. Sections of it were quick to go down as the Liger Zero took a hold of one of the Storm Sworders residing inside of it with its mouth and swung it against the building's walls, firing its Shock Cannons at the same time. Then Ven reached out to Thomas and Aero, seeing that he wouldn't be able to take out the hangar by himself.

"I might need some help over here, you guys. I'm at their hangar, and this could take me a while if I don't get help."

"Hey, I'm holed up in my section, so have Aero come over. I may have to resort to sticking completely to a range if this keeps up."

"Roger that. AERO!"

No response came.

"AERO! You better have gotten over your yourself! Just save it all up for later when you can yell and scream all day long, because this is a battlefield!"

"Okay…"

Then the transmission suddenly cut off and frustrated Ven even more. He was hoping for more compliance from his younger brother in a time like this, but he could tell from his waiting and having to hold the Backdraft zoids around him off that it wasn't going to happen. That was until he heard more of the same beams from before firing off from somewhere near him.

"_He came through!"_

"Yes, he did! Hopefully he does that for the rest of this mission. Now, let's keep this up before-"

A series of purple beams shot past him and instantly destroyed many of the Command Wolves around him, effectively laying waste to the rest of the hangar. The beams cut him off and forced him to constantly dodge each of them as several other structures were being torn down by the blasts with enough power to go through the ones behind them. His eyes were struck with fear, even as he attempted to ask his companion what was going on until they suddenly stopped after all there was left was rubble, and a Konig Wolf who was standing by his side.

"Saved you, bro," shouted Aero over another transmission, directing his brother's attention to the blue zoid as he was panting again.

"I can see that."

"_You almost got made short work of there," _Midnight dryly reassured, looking at the zoid who was crouching on the ground in defense.

"_Was…that…"_

"_Whatever it was, I dismantled it. Looks like they've got some serious firepower as well."_

"_No…wait!"_

"_Wait? My shots should have taken care of it!"_

None of them said anything else as they attempted to look through the debris and the smoke. It was slow to fade away, and once it did, they could make out a purple energy shield that was guarding a bulky, tyrannosaurus-shaped zoid with purple armor, watching in terror as the target stood out to both of the zoids.

"_No…"_ Zero grumbled as he leaned in for a better look. _"No, no, no, no, no, NOOO!"_

* * *

A pack of eight white-painted Gunsnipers stodd behind the rest of their kin at the top of the mountains. They were the commando unit's zoids, the unit responsible for infiltrating the Backdraft's headquarters and kidnapping The Count. They were waiting for their signal to move, and Ken, wearing a mask and imitating the voice of the unit's leader was quietly laughing at everything that was happening.

"Knowing how things have been going, those three must be facing each other off at this moment," he whispered, sinisterly smiling at the screen in front of him. "Chaos is happening. Just pure chaos! Hahahahahahahaha."

An image of Rachel's face popped up in front of him and forced him to cut himself off. She looked at him sternly, ready to present news to him.

"Romero, we are receiving word from our commanders that things are clearing up down there. I suggest you take a look for yourself real quick and determine if it is safe for you guys to move in."

"Got it. I'll let you know what we'll do next."

"Great. Hit me back."

Her face disappeared, and Ken contacted the pilots of the Gunsnipers in front of him. They heard him and moved to the sides to make space for him, and he analyzed the battle that was going on. There were fires around the perimeters, and even in some of the sections within the base. He knew getting in would be difficult unless more of the Backdraft zoids could be disabled.

He set up another transmission with Rachel.

"Lieutenant, my men and I will be moving in soon. We just need to disable more of their zoids first. Then we should have a clearing."

"Okay then. Just be careful. I'll let everyone else know you'll be down there."

Then it cut off again, and the unit's 'leader' sent out orders to the rest of the Gunsnipers nearby to make space for his small regiment. They moved out of the way, and the rest of the commandos were lined up, preparing their snipers to quickly shoot down a series of targets.

"Commence fire," yelled Ken, right before batches of Backdraft zoids were pierced by their bullets. The other Gunsnipers were either joining in or aiming for the aerial forces, doing their best to defend the others.

Many structures were shot down by the long-range gunfire before they collapsed, blending in with the rest of the growing rubble. There wasn't much of the outer regions left, and once the commandos saw this, the unit switched gears and back into their zoids' standard modes before they headed for a trail that led them downwards. It was long and curvy, but skidding down would have caused major damage to their zoids. It didn't take them long to reach the surface, where they darted straight through a path that Ken directed them through.

"We're almost there," he informed to his followers. He recalled masking himself as Xavier and the route that would take them to the steps leading up to the headquarters's front. "Remember our exercises! We'll blast through the front with our zoids, and then we'll jump out and gun down everyone we see until we reach the top floor. Got it?!"

Everyone approved, and then they were at the entrance in less than a minute. The sounds of gunfire and zoids fighting continued throughout the air, and they only grew louder upon the hit the headquarters took. Ken rapidly fired at the entrance, and they all opened their hatches and jumped out, running up the steps as they were arming their machineguns and gunning down all who were on the first floor. It was a bloodbath, one that left no survivors in the room except for the commandos themselves. Then all of them made their way to the elevator, except for Ken. He remained behind, looking at all the broken glass and bodies that were on the floor. The others in his unit noticed this and questioned him, tilting their heads in confusion.

"Aren't you coming along, Sir?"

The disguised spy said nothing, and only evilly laughed again as he looked at the mess that was around him. His subordinates retracted what they asked and looked at him curiously, trying to figure out what was going on.

Then he raised his machinegun at them.

"Now that you're all in a spot where suspicion can be avoided…"

Their eyes widened, and many of them slowly raised their guns, stuck in shock and fear. The situation hit them even harder when they heard him no longer using his fake voice, the one he had used to successfully pose as their commander.

"…I think I'll make the most of this operation and replace each of you!"

Ken opened fire, gunning down each of the commandos who had fought alongside him until none of them were standing, and another pool of blood began to form. It reached all the way to his feet, stirring up his laughter.

"And now for the REAL fun to begin," he announced. He extended his hand out as it glowed a black shade and a dark goop formed around it. It morphed around his hand until it became the size of a basketball and jumped off, latching on to the bodies of the deceased commandos. It spread into several smaller balls in the process, each of which took its own host and started pulsating the longer it clung on. Once they had extracted all they needed, they detached and hovered in the air, expanding into a humanoid shape that copied the features of their hosts, all the way from their posture to their clothing.

"Welcome back," Ken sarcastically joked, sensing the new troupe lining up behind him. "Now let's go fetch what we're after!"

They all nodded their heads before they took off towards the and pressed the button that would take them to the top floor.

* * *

In one region of the base, there was no sound at all. There were no zoids, other than three that were in a standoff: a LigerZero, a Konig Wolf, and a Berzerk Fuhrer. There was only a long pause as they each took in the other's presence, trying to make sense of everything that was happening. The smoke was clear, allowing a long stare between the opponents. However, the silence was interrupted as soon as both Aero and Ven saw another man's face on their screens, one they were hoping they would never see again.

"Ahhhhh, so it's you two," Ragnarok commented with a determined stare piercing through both of them. Ven was the one who was hit the most by it.

"You…" Ven mumbled in uncontained fear. "So you're NOT dead!"

"At least the Commission hasn't forgotten me, now has it?"

"You'd better believe it hasn't!"

"And that's great to hear! I'd be really sad if they did. I hold too much of a grudge against them to be deemed unimportant."

"Grrrrrr…"

The two brothers tensed themselves in their seats. They each hated him for what he had done, but it was Midnight and Liger Zero who were the most emotionally affected.

"Hey, Liger, is this the zoid you've been talking about?" Ven asked, lowering his head as he tried to search for a way around it.

"_Yeah…it is…"_

The Berzerk Fuhrer's eyes glowed at the sight of the feline. The zoid roared as soon as it made eye contact with him, and Liger Zero returned the gesture, but at a much more nervous level. He had known that there was a possibility that they would meet each other again - it just didn't change the range of emotions that were stirring up within him. He was angry with the circumstances and the side his old companion had taken again, but he was also relieved to know that he was still alive. That he himself wasn't the only Ultimate X in the world. That someone he had known for centuries was still around.

Midnight felt similarly. As Aero asked her questions, she didn't respond with an answer. She was filled with rage upon hearing Ragnarok's face and growled as loud as she could, but seeing his new zoid alongside him made her stop and question what she was doing.

"_Wait…I sense something familiar,"_ the wolf suspected, retracing her memories to see where the Berzerk Fuhrer would fit in. However, as she kept on recalling, she noticed it wasn't his physical appearance that sparked something. It was his aura. _"…Shadow?"_

The dinosaur growled just as loudly upon hearing the name and instantly shifted his gaze from his rival to her. She knew his real name. That was impossible. He kept staring her down, and no matter what he did, he couldn't recognize her. He let out an even deeper groan.

"_Who dares to address me…as such?"_ the purple zoid demanded as it slowly walked towards the duo and continuously snarled, all the while taking shots with its buster claws at all of the Command Wolves that were still trying to fight it.

"_You know Shadow as well?"_ Liger Zero asked, switching his eyes from being on Fuhrer to fixating on Midnight.

"_All too well. I think it's best if I explain later…if there is a 'later.'"_

"_Right…"_

"Thomas," Ven shouted over his speakers. "We've got a HUGE problem on our hands here. They have a super zoid like we feared, and it's effortlessly taking out several of our numbers. Tell the rest of everyone here to leave it to me and my brother, because I think only we stand a chance."

"A super zoid? Gargh, wait, what is it?!"

"Don't worry about that! I don't have time to explain! Just do what I told you to do, and that's that!"

"Oh, so now you think you're the-"

The teenager cut off the transmission to avoid distractions, and he watched as the blue-haired commander smirked.

"And you sound desperate," Ragnarok sneered. "In fact, you all even look desperate. Even your zoids!"

"Just shut up! We'll deal with you!"

Ven instantly blocked him off as well and set up communication with Aero. On the other end, the preteen was equally as scared. The look of the Fuhrer was throwing off his concentration, leaving the kid shaking in his seat. Midnight sensed this and was quick to assert herself.

_Aero! Toughen up! I'm not liking this either, but this is our lives on the line!_

Aero gulped in his seat as he watched the looming zoid keep closing in, raising its Buster Claws. It stopped once it was completely clear in both of their sights, and the dinosaur let off one last groan.

"And now they DIE," shouted the commander from within the Fuhrer, letting off a series of blasts once again.

"MOVE," Ven screamed to his brother as soon as he saw the shots charging. Though fearful, Aero successfully ran out of the way in time while he saw the Liger do the same. It was only then that he realized he was stuck in a real battle.

After completing its bound, the Liger Zero dashed straight for the Berzerk Fuhrer and attempted to tackle it. However, Ragnarok predicted his movement and quickly tail-smacked him away, allowing Fuhrer easy access to charge for Midnight while she was off-guard and knocked her down.

_AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH_, the wolf groaned in pain before the zoid above her pinned her with its foot and aimed its Buster Claw at her.

"Oh, how I could never forget about you," Ragnarok spoke out through his speakers, singling her out as she helplessly wrestled break free. "You, the very zoid that disgraced me not too long ago. I hope you didn't even have the nerve to forget about that."

_Forget about that? I could never forget this place and the pain you've caused me, as well as the others around here!_

"Tsk, you talk like the Commission is good, even righteous. Hell, you're just a fucking zoid. A piece of trash that I went OUT OF MY WAY TO OBTAIN! I'M THE FUCKING REASON YOU'RE EVEN IN THIS WORLD! And you nearly killed me because of it!"

_Yeah, I did. You brought me into this world to use me! You're even abusing the zoid you're in, someone who was a trusted friend of mine! It's because of that that I'll make sure I get you this time!_

"Hahaha, your 'friend," the commander snickered, giving the Konig Wolf beneath him a coy look. "Give me a break. Does he remember you? NO, HE DOESN'T! That just clearly illustrates how important you are, as the damn zoid that nearly destroyed us!"

He had another shot ready to go off. It would've been the finishing blow for Midnight and for Aero, but it wasn't. Before he could shoot, the Fuhrer was thrown off balance as it roared in shock and pain. A small smoke cloud had gathered behind it, and before it could react, it was on the ground beside Midnight with Liger Zero on top of it, ferociously attempting to tear it apart.

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY BROTHER," Ven screamed as some of the veins in his face bulged.

"_So you just don't change, do you?"_ Liger Zero asked alongside his brother. _"You're still threatening everyone, and I can't let you do that! We were supposed to protect the peace, and I will stick by that!"_

But the brawl didn't last long as the Berzerk Fuhrer rolled over and managed to toss the feline away and against a building, battering both the zoid and Ven inside.

"What the hell?" the teenager grunted, pushing away the pain as electricity was sparking in various chunks of his zoid. "This guy is freaking phenomenal! How did you beat him before?"

"_I had to use elements of surprise. Otherwise, he was too strong. Using those would be hard around here though, unless we can work something out with those other two."_

As Zero said this, Ven watched his brother's zoid get hit again and leave the wolf in a similar condition. Both of them were down, but still more than willing to fight as they forced themselves back to their feet.

"This is just too easy," Ragnarok announced out loud to all those around him, standing the Fuhrer up and flying far enough away to give it enough distance. "Even with a surprise attack, you still can barely put up a fight!"

"I thought I told this guy to shut up!"

Liger's vents and claws started to glow again, and this time, he raced towards and around his foe, hoping to disorient him before going in for another strike.

"Aero, I've got him occupied. When you see an opportunity, shoot him! As soon as you do, I'll go in for a strike and finish him!"

The Konig Wolf shook the rubble off itself and watched as the Liger dashed rapidly around its opponent while she listened to what its pilot said. She liked his idea, and pushed it on to Aero once she noticed that she could still feel the discomfort from inside her.

_Listen to him! He has the right idea! Just be careful not to hit him…_

But Aero did nothing other than shake at the sight of the two zoids in front of him. Then he closed his eyes and recalled all that had happened. He remembered getting charged by the 'big scary zoid that he had never seen before,' going wild in the fray of the combat, and thinking about all the people that had died that day. For him, it was all becoming too much, and all that happened was Ven waited endlessly.

_Child!_

"AERO, what are you waiting for?! This is our chance!"

Meanwhile, Ragnarok stopped moving his zoid around and chuckled, watching as neither the two of them did anything. To him, the situation was amusing.

"Like I said, this is too easy. They're just predictable, hoping to distract me while the other charges up, and that one isn't even doing anything! This will be the perfect opportunity to prove to The Count how much I am _truly _worth to him."

The Fuhrer extended one of its Buster Claws out and watched as the Liger Zero successfully dodged by jumping out of his predicted path. It was a move that Ragnarok hadn't anticipated and instantly paid for once Zero dashed back in and struck him from the side, scarring his armor, before running off into the distance.

"So they do have some tactics," the commander commented after he was jumped around in his cockpit. "At least, that one does. Too bad the other is just too scared of the battlefield, hehehe…"

From the small distance, Midnight frustratedly watched as the situation became a one-on-one. She had always been wanting her chance of revenge on the commander and wasn't getting it because of her pilot's fears. It was making her lose it.

_Look, I do not want to have to take control, Aero. It's more taxing on myself for me to do so, and I can't scan the battlefield as effectively as you. But your brother can't do this by himself. I'd love to try to console you right now about everything, but it's now or never! So make your choice!_

"I…I…"

_Make it!_

"I…" Aero scrunched his eyes. "I don't…know what to do."

_So you'd rather watch the two of them die?!_

"No…never!"

_Then get on it! This is exactly what we've been training for!_

Then, feeling a small wave of confidence, Aero opened his eyes just to watch as Ragnarok and his zoid were effortlessly tearing down several of their forces before hurling Liger Zero away again and aiming itself at the Konig Wolf once more.

_GET ON IT!_

Ragnarok was still laughing inside his cockpit, watching as the Konig Wolf was still on standby. It threw him into a flurry where he almost couldn't control himself.

"And now to finish you off…" he announced, opening the Berzerk Fuhrer's mouth and pointing the gun inside of it at the wolf. Its footlocks deployed on the ground. "…in a way that will make you pay for your treachery!"

Blue particles gathered in front of its inner cannon, creating a blue orb nearly the size of its head. The sight of it was enough to bring Aero back to his senses, and he stiffened up and immediately forced Midnight to side-leap, just in time to avoid getting hit by the cannon's long and large blue blast.

"What the…" Aero screamed as he watched the deathly hit go by him, then close in on him from the side.

_Keep moving! We're fast enough to avoid being hit!_

"Eh…"

The charged particle beam swung from its left to its right in the hopes of catching the sprinting wolf but failed. To make up for this, the Buster Claws began firing again as well, but missed due to the strain of maintaining the blast disorienting them. They fired everywhere and only managed to strike down more of the base and various zoids that were in the distance. In a matter of seconds, the wolf was closing in on him when the beam dissipated, and Aero readied her claws for another up-close session.

"I have you now," declared Aero, leaning in for the beatdown. Ragnarok still laughed.

"Please, can't you all just learn to give up? You are no match for ME!"

The dinosaur growled and restored its footlocks, then twisted itself to face Midnight and Aero and expanded its Buster Claws above it into triangular formations. A purple energy shield then deployed outward and covered it, and the Konig Wolf threw itself right into it, shocking its body until it was thrown back and forced to retreat and run away again.

_Are you kidding me?! Does he have a counter for everything?!_

"I hope not," Aero answered.

_Thanks for helping…_

The commander watched the couple run away and took chase with the thrusters on the Fuhrer's feet, allowing the zoid to fly at a speed faster than their's.

_He's gaining on us!_

Aero listened to her complaint and looked on his radar, watching as a red dot was following them at high speed. Despite this, his eyes showed determination, figuring out a plan.

"Hmmmm…"

_Got any ideas in there?!_

"I just might."

One second later, the wolf swerved, then took off through an unoccupied alleyway on their left before their enemy could tail them. The Fuhrer attempted the same thing, but was ultimately thrown past the turn before it could follow. It didn't have strong breaks.

"Damn kid," the commander cursed, doing his best to keep up with the runaways. They performed a sharp right turn and made him do the same thing again, this time sending his zoid's legs into piles of rubble and damaging one of his thrusters, leaving him lopsided in the air. "GRRRRRR…"

He knew he couldn't sustain flight, so he brought the Fuhrer back to the ground. With one thruster, they would have no balance and would constantly go in the wrong directions if they used it.

"_They've damaged us…"_

"No shit they have! And they won't do that again!"

Then he felt the effects of blue double beams continuously blasting him on his side before they stopped, and Liger Zero leapt over the pile, an enraged pilot ready to do away with him. Zero tackling the struggling zoid straight on and struck off several chunks of its armor while it was still shocked.

"_Don't you dare think that I'll let you get away with betraying me again,"_ roared Liger Zero as he continued attacking the Berzerk Fuhrer mercilessly.

"Charge them up, Aero," Ven ordered as he did his best to keep the Fuhrer down. "Just tell me when you're ready and I'll get off him!"

"Right-o, Bro," Aero acknowledged, preparing to power up Midnight's dischargers. They were charging quickly, and Ragnarok stared in horror as he recklessly fought around in his cockpit to throw the feline off. If he didn't, he knew it would be over for him. Eventually, he succeeded after successive rolls and a throw, sending Liger Zero toppling over again and letting Berzerk Fuhrer on the loose. The beams missed as he narrowly dodged, and they ran through several structures, piercing through the mountains on the other side.

"Again, I've underestimated them," Ragnarok mentioned as he looked to his side at the standalone Konig Wolf, who he knew was ready to strike him again at a moment's notice. He could sense even more of her dark feelings just by looking at her, and they culminated once he saw the missile pods on her back opening. "Oh SHIT!"

He instantly spun his zoid around again to face her and back up before the missiles could hit. He activated his shield again and allowed it to take the full brunt of the attack, and even the series of blue beams that followed. He could also see the bullets shooting out from the guns on her face, inflicting damage, and rapidly running down the shield's energy.

"Goddamnit, I can't get out of this!"

Then he felt blows coming from behind as the zoid groaned, and he could only guess who it was hitting him. The barrage of blasts from his front soon stopped for a cooling period, and he adjusted to face the Liger Zero that was coming at him again. Ven was not expecting to be countered the counter that came.

"If you son of a bitches think you're gonna win…"

The feline was seconds away from connecting with the tyrannosaurus for a third time when it saw a Buster Claw taking aim at its leg.

"…then you Commission slaves have got another thing coming!"

Ven and Zero looked in horror at the charging shot in slow-motion and watched as it went off, tearing through the armor on one of their paws as the Liger Zero cried out in pain.

"_Revenge…"_ grunted Berzerk Fuhrer.

However, the feline's body still collided and took him down, throwing both them several yards back where they were pushed up against more rubble.

"And now you die!"

The Fuhrer threw itself back up and was preparing itself to physically tear away at the defenseless zoid before Midnight tackled it, letting off as loud of a howl as she could.

_You do NOT hurt my friends like that!_

"Grrrrr…" Ragnarok growled from the pain of having been toppled over multiple times. "Well, it's ironic who you're saying that to, isn't it?"

_I know you have him under some kind of spell! You did it to me! I just know it!_

"Let me reassure you that nothing has been done to your 'friend' here."

Aero was equally as angered to know that his brother wasn't responding to him, and was more unsettled than ever as he forced Midnight to bite down on one of the Buster Claws.

"He just can't remember you! And you're making a big mistake as of right now…"

Immediately, the claw began slowly to spin around, grating Midnight's teeth and breaking several fangs off, making her scream in agony and release some of the pressure she was applying.

"…And here's how much I DESPISE YOU!"

Ragnarok pushed the twisting claw further into her mouth, and she let go, only to be hit by a tail swipe as soon as he got up and as she tried to recover. She was sent flying next to Zero, laying just as helplessly while she groaned, and her companion didn't make a sound.

"_Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it…"_ she snarled. However, she could sense that he wasn't approaching them again, much to her relief. He only looked at her for a brief second and smirked before his concentration remembered everything else that was going on and focused its attention on the battlefield.

"Maybe I should help out our other forces," the commander stated, analyzing the shattered terrain around him. "I never thought I'd see this place look like this. I wonder if The Count even heeded my warnings and attempted to escape. Hmph, knowing him, he's probably holing himself up at the top of the headquarters, trying to keep the Backdraft's data organized."

Ragnarok slammed his fist.

"What an idiot! He doesn't know who it is that is that's been saying the right things! Oh well…"

Meanwhile, Berzerk Fuhrer stared at the two fallen targets, emitting a low growl as he stared at the Liger Zero's fallen body.

"_I have what I am here for in my grasps…"_

"DO NOT focus on them at the moment! We are under attack from an enemy force, and so we must fight them off!"

"_Do not forget what our terms were…"_

"If you spend time on them, we could be hit from any angle, and we are damaged as we are. You can handle them later!"

"_I do not think you understand…"_

A series of shells hit the side of the zoid, which stole its attention and directed it directly to its new targets. They were a pack of Command Wolves that had seen what happened to Midnight and Liger Zero and decided that it was best if they had chosen to do something.

"I think I do. Now don't be a fool! Get to it!"

* * *

Inside a Whale King, Rachel was trying to reach out to Ven and Aero, but received no response. She received a 'no connection available' message which informed her of the grim situation that she guessed was happening. Desperate, she attempted to reach out to Thomas, but the transmission was distorted and hard to hear. It meant he was in his own trouble, but still functioning. What was happening? Weren't those three supposed to work together and ensure that they were all well?

The lieutenant attempted to contact the Commando unit's leader, Romero, to see if he knew anything about what was happening. She was successful in reaching him, but all he said was that he knew nothing, and that they were close to reaching The Count's position. They confirmed that he would soon let her know when they were ready to be picked up, and she ended the line.

"Does anybody have a count of how many of our zoids are left?"

"About half of our forces are still remaining. We were expecting to only be left with three-quarters of our forces, which means something wrong is going on down there. Something we couldn't have calculated," one of the men replied.

"Something we couldn't have calculated? And what exactly is that?"

"I only have the numbers in front of me, Ma'am."

"Then what about anyone else," the woman demanded, scanning to see if there were any others who would respond. "Don't we have cameras on this Whale King that allow us to see what is happening?"

"We do, and you might want to get a good look at this," replied another one, using her hand to tell Rachel to come over. The lieutenant didn't hesitate, and she dashed over to get a good look at what was being displayed. Far down in the distance, she could see the Berzerk Fuhrer with the injured bodies of Midnight and Liger Zero fighting it. At this, her mood swung.

"Can we get a hold of Zanzer?" she quietly queried, looking at the person next to her with emotional eyes.

"We should be able to."

"Good, because tell him to reach out to the Commando unit and inform them that it will be his Whale King they will meet up with when they are ready. This one won't be available for that since I will gone."

Her last word caused several of the people in the Bridge to turn and stare in shock.

"Gone?" the same attendant asked.

"I will be taking my Rainbow Jerk out there to help them out. A foe such as that will have trouble against a skilled flyer."

"So you plan on _fighting_?!"

"Yes! They'll need the help from someone such as me, and my decision is final! Plus, you are all skilled and responsible, and have shown that you would not have any trouble overseeing this Whale King. Just keep yourselves managed up here. That is all I ask while I am gone."

"But do you know how heavy your loss would be if you didn't make it back?"

"Must I repeat myself?"

She didn't respond, and Rachel gave each individual a nod before she took off towards the hangar. A small discussion ensued where everyone debated over what they had heard, but the lieutenant paid no attention to it. Instead, she was already close to her zoid, and ready to enter the combat.

'_I'm doing this for you and Aero, Ven. You all might think I'm crazy, but since the action is slowing down, I know I can make a difference...and I'm not about to let somebody close to me die.'_

* * *

The rest of the travel up the headquarters was simple for Ken and his duplicates. The elevator had been stopped several times by other Backdraft members who were trying to escape or were suspicious of what was happening downstairs. They knew that a battle was happening outside, but hearing gunfire several floors below had stirred them up and spurred some of them into wanting to defend themselves, but they were no match. They were gunned down effortlessly by the merciless unit, a unit that was more killersome than they had initially been trained.

The elevator stopped moving once again. This time it was because they had reached their destination. The doors slowly opened, and the troops held their 'guns' up to their shoulders, ready for action whenever it came. Ken, however, remained calm and guided them towards the center of the room. It was the Senate Room, where the Backdraft Group members held several of their long-distance meetings. It was completely dark, save for the bluish lights on the ground that illuminated their walkway. The presence of as many people as there were forced the lights in the room to turn on, and in Ken's way stood The Count, with a group of armed men standing behind the bald man.

"I've been expecting yo-"

A series of gunshots flew out from the pistol Ken whipped out from one of his pockets. Before he knew it, The Count heard several bodies drop behind him, leaving him alone with the spy and his own troops.

"Have you now?" Ken queried. He pulled off his mask to show his true face to The Count who was covering his head. The frightened man looked up again and was scared again to see that the Commando unit's leader was someone in disguise. "My, my, it's not like we've made contact before."

The Count kept looking at the mask as Ken walked closer. In the seconds he looked at it, he watched it morph into a different face that had a lighter complexion and red curly hair. This, Ken pulled up to in front of his face, and the bald man instantly recognized it.

"Or maybe we have? Hmmmm, I don't know. I think I used to call myself 'Xavier.' I have some vague memories, though I think we only saw each other on again and off again, am I correct?" At this, the Backdraft's leader started panting. To him, encountering this man was similar to watching all of his worst nightmares at once.

"You… You're the archaeologist who…encouraged Ragnarok…one of my men…to go crazy and find the Berzerk Fuhrer…"

"Right-O," Ken confirmed, stuffing the mask into one of his pockets. "I'm also responsible for a number of other things."

"But…Who…Who are you?! You're with the Commission, but you've sided with us! How?!" The spy shook his head and puckered his lips.

"You're such a poor thing. You really are. Actually, all of you are. Every single person who has gotten themselves caught up in all this sad excuse for war, or whatever you call it. You're all so pitiful."

"What…are you even talking about?"

"And now I've reduced the very leader of the Backdraft Group to a whimpering soul. Eve, having power over you truly is something, but I would suspect you'd know everything about that…"

Suddenly, Ken snatched The Count's shirt and pulled him over to himself with an arm around his neck, and pistol in his other hand right beneath the man's chin.

"Well? Don't you?"

"Just what are you even doing? Aren't you here to capture me and take me to the Commission? Whose side are you even on?"

The spy rolled his eyes, responding, "Oh, don't worry. I'll do all that. At least, I think I will. But you see, I am my own independent man…"

The pistol clicked. It was ready to fire another shot.

"…so I have my own way of going about things. I even have my own goals, and since we are in this position, I expect you to cooperate? Have I made myself clear?" The Count gulped.

"What do you mean by cooperate?"

"You really have a thing for asking questions, don't you?"

"I would like to know who such a foul man such as yourself is."

"Such ironic words coming from someone like you."

"FINE, I UNDERSTAND!"

The room fell silent for a moment, and the duplicates lowered their guns. They sensed no immediate danger in the room.

"Good, then," Ken commented, "very good. Now…"

Ken dragged the helpless man over to his duplicates and threw him into them. They each reached to catch him and held a firm grasp on him before he could break free. They rendered him immobile, and he came face-to-face with the spy.

"…I am sure that someone like you has heard of Eve's crystals, have you not?"

"Eve's crystals?" The Count said as his voice drowned out under his body's stress. "Why would I know about something such as that?" Ken tilted his head in feigned confusion.

"Oh? How would you? Well, maybe it has something to do with the fact that a small chunk of the energy from one is how your group has gotten so many of your zoids to even function? Really, it's hard to get your own military going when you are a resistance group that has founded itself on economic inequality."

"Grrrrrrr… As if a scum like you would know anything!"

"Actually, it makes sense that I would know this since I did have a small relationship with your most famous commander, did I not? It is not as if I haven't lived around here before under another alias…"

The Count shot the calculating man the coldest glare he could create with his green eyes.

"You're just a goddamn parasite!"

"As I indirectly addressed before, I don't think a man such as yourself has any right to be making remarks about others, and because of that, I would prefer it if you would spend your last valuable minutes cutting to the chase. I mean, you might as well since your enemies are only going to see you as trash later on…"

The glare was maintained and deflected by his opposer's emotionless stare. The Count couldn't win, and he eventually reverted to just looking at the ground.

"Fine then," he mumbled. "I may as well tell you something. A man such as you will probably use it against the Commission anyway, and that would at the very least make me proud. We haven't used it in a long time. We were able to use spies to steal money from the Commission themselves consistently, so we never needed it anymore. We found it to be a dangerous resource to continuously use over and over, so we just abandoned it. But if you are looking for it, then look no further than deep within the waters nearby this base."

Ken nodded his head in contentment, raising an eyebrow at the man who had admitted defeat.

"And that's all there is to it?" he asked. "Just go in the water and we'll find it?"

"Not necessarily. We don't know exactly where in the water it is. We just used the extracted material we found hovering on the waves. We have never seen the crystal itself."

"I see, I see… Well, if that's the case…"

Ken quickly snatched The Count again and pulled him up to his face, meeting eye-to-eye. One set was fearful while the other was determined with a narrow expression.

"…I would like to thank you for making the most out of your last valuable minutes."

"So now you will take me captive and back to Remma?"

"Hmmm… Something like that."

Then The Count's eyes grew wider as he felt a cold metal up against the side of his head, and the slow pulling of a trigger.

"Actually, not Remma. Scratch that. No, a place with angels and whatnot. You know, the things that we always look forward to! So have a good day."

The sound of a final gunshot pierced throughout the Senate Room, and The Count's body was dropped to the floor, motionless like his men that had been killed. Despite this, Ken still smirked to himself and looked back up at his squad as he put his mask back on.

"Hamper all the circuitry and pipelines throughout the building. Destroy every piece of equipment until it explodes, then report back. We're gonna go out with a bang, with nothing of this base left in sight," Ken declared as his face resembled their Romero's again. The group of seven left, and Ken extended his arm out again as he did before, this time allowing the goop to drip on to the dead man's body. "I'm gonna have to bring something back, won't I? Hehehe, do be a good imposter…"

* * *

The number of zoids on the battlefield was dwindling. Decimated bodies with destroyed zoid cores laid everywhere where buildings used to be, with several human bodies right next to them. There were only a handful of aerial forces left, making it clear for the Rainbow Jerk to go straight for its target: the Berzerk Fuhrer. By the time she had flown out, the two brothers' zoids were already defeated, along with a pile of broken down Command Wolves right next to them. At this point, it was just her and the tyrannosaurus.

'_No…Ven…Aero…'_ she cried in her mind, then channeled her sadness into anger as she pushed her zoid to go as fast as it could possibly go. Unfortunately, she did not go unnoticed.

"_Up there…"_ Berzerk Fuhrer snarled, issuing for his pilot's attention.

"Hmmmm, it amazes me how persistent the Commission can be. To think, if it wasn't for you, they would have caught me off-guard."

The peafowl extended its wings as they shone with a blue hue. Then it angled itself, preparing itself to cut right through the target.

"This should do it," declared Rachel as she closed in on them.

"Not so fast."

Seconds before the feathers connected, they met with the Fuhrer's shield sparks flew. The shield's energy level displayed that it was about to go out, so the zoid jumped to the side, allowing the bird to fly along and cut through both Backdraft and Commission zoids in the process.

"Shit," Rachel cursed. Then she set up a connection with Thomas. Since she was out on the battlefield herself, interference would have a hard time cutting through. "Thomas, can you hear me?"

At first, there was only static, but then his higher-pitched voice came through.

"Loud and clear."

"Good, because I'm gonna need a lot of assistance over here."

"Assistance? Is it that urgent in the Whale King?"

The lieutenant rolled her eyes and sighed, realizing she hadn't told him her plan since she couldn't contact him before.

"Thomas, look to the sky. Do you see a Rainbow Jerk?"

"You have gotta be kidding me, my dear…"

"And cut it out with the romance! I'm sorry, and I hate to say this, but you're not my type!"

"I'm not?! But…"

"Anyways, do you see me yet?"

The flyer flew around until she saw a Dibison on the ground, and the Dibison looked up. It was by itself with parts that were sparking.

"Now I do? But why are you out here?!"

"Because things are critical. Both Ven's and Aero's zoids have been disabled by one zoid, so it's up to you and me while the rest handle the others. Got it? I'm not sure what it can do, but since the Liger Zero and the Konig Wolf lost to it, then we've gotta be careful."

"It defeated our strongest zoids? Then what makes you think we can do something about it?"

"Because it is most likely worn out. So are you ready?"

"Actually, I think you're kinda crazy. Besides, isn't your Whale King the one who is supposed to hold The Count after we've captured him? Who's gonna make sure everything goes well in there?"

"We've switched that responsibility to Zanzer's Whale King. Then we may switch it back afterwards, but we don't know yet."

"Okay…" the guard dragged on. "Eve, I hate this. So how do you suppose we're gonna take it on?"

"You still have enough firepower for your Megalomax?"

"Yeah. I'm running out of ammo in general, though."

"No matter. You should have all we'll need. He's about a mile directly ahead of you. If you can hit him with everything else you've got, then I should be able to take care of him. Then I want you to start getting Megalomax as soon as I tell you to. Got it?"

"Yeah. Jeez, you're a risktaker."

"How do you think I got my job?"

"Even for a lieutenant, and they're usually managing everything from behind the scenes, not directly participating."

"Tsk. We're a lot more complicated than that. Trust me on that one."

"Tell me about it…"

"So hit him before he catches on to us!"

"Roger!"

BEEK scanned the area as far down ahead of him as he could and picked up the Berzerk Fuhrer's signature. Before Thomas readied his weapons, he got a good look at the tyrannosaurus's statistics and dropped his jaws in awe at what he was seeing. They were above that of Liger Zero's and Midnight's, a feat which nearly made him hesitant to strike it, but he pulled through. His reticules locked-on, and he was ready to fire.

"And here we go," he yelled, feeling the pressure of the missile pods as they emptied themselves and zoomed in on Berzerk Fuhrer from the skies.

"So we're not even close to done, are we?" Ragnarok vented as soon as he saw the strikes coming. Then he immediately steered the Fuhrer towards the remaining buildings that were still standing. He escaped in the nick of time as some of them struck the ground behind him and singed his tail before chewing away at the piles of debris and other structures. "And they think they're gonna surprise me. How cute."

He looked on his radar and then up above to see the multicolored bird flying and dodging shots from the Storm Sworders. Rachel's aerial versatility astonished him as she successfully grouped up with a group of Pterases to effectively take them down, right before she flew around the area and re-directed her attention onto him.

"We've got you now," she cried, firing away with the guns mounted on her shoulders.

"Oh no you don't!"

The missile barrage ended, and a laser barrage began. Once it was safe for him, Ragnarok stopped himself as the shots missed and aimed his weapons directly at her. The purple beams threw off her coordination as they burned away the Rainbow Jerk's feathers, and then the edge of one of her guns was blown off, forcing her to retreat. "Not as tough as we thought, huh?"

Rachel then twisted one hundred and eighty degrees towards Thomas, flying back up and as far away as she could from her target.

"Nevermind, I can't distract him," she informed as she went by her companion. "He's too aware of his surroundings, as well as freakishly powerful."

"I told you you were out of it."

"Hey! At least I tried!"

But their bickering costed them. Ragnarok saw that nothing was coming after him and watched as the two targets responsible for the last two attacks stayed near each other as if they were disputing. He grinned and took advantage of this opportunity to deploy his footlocks a second time as his Buster Claws opened up again. This time, there were three particle orbs forming, two of which were forming within the Claws themselves, with electricity hovering over his top half.

"I've had enough of these games," the commander shouted, eyes wide with vengeance. "It's time that I show these Commission scumbags what the _true _wrath of the Backdraft Group is like!"

The orbs gathered up more energy around them as the Fuhrer leaned forward, narrowing its sights down on the stable Dibison. Thomas, from within his cockpit could see three blue lights in the distance and instantly sensed the danger and did what he could to move out of the way.

"YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE!"

The three charged particle cannons fired, each one swinging in a different direction. The one coming from the mouth chased after BEEK and was able to melt away everything that stood in its path and the bison's hind end until it could no longer twist. Another homed in on Rachel, who cursed to herself as she barely dodged the blast and watched it reach for the skies.

"Just how powerful is this thing?!" she demanded, watching as other flyers weren't so lucky. Both Backdraft and Commission zoids alike were falling. "It's ruthless!"

The other beam was sweeping along a row of Gunsnipers that were still remaining up high on the mountains. Many of them attempted to flee beforehand, but the majority were caught off guard. Overall, the death count from the blasts neared the hundreds, with nothing in their paths being spared.

"Gargh," Thomas groaned as his Dibison hit the ground, unable to balance himself.

"_I should have known it was hopeless,"_ the zoid grumbled, doing its best to stand back up. The charged particle beams eventually wore out, leaving a damaged Dibison, a disoriented Rainbow Jerk, and the remaining fearful Commission zoids to attempt to take on their foes.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA," laughed Ragnarok as loudly as he could. "Why don't you all just face it?! You may have taken down our base, but we still possess a power that you could never dream to face up against!"

"_Up there…"_ grumbled Berzerk Fuhrer as he directed his pilot's attention upward. The commander was hesitant to look up at first since he was basking in his glory. He was still in a fit and found it hard to listen to his own zoid. However, he eventually regained himself and decided to pay attention, raising his head up to look at the sky.

"Up there? What could be so urgent? We've got them right where we-"

What the two of them saw was enough to completely change their mood: a red Whale King that was hovering over them and nearing the roof of the Backdraft's headquarters while another trailed behind it.

"What the?! But why? Their Whale Kings are barely equipped to fight! What's the point of bringing them in unless there's something they want to load up? Wait… NO!"

At the same time, Rachel was equally surprised to watch them start coming in. No one had contacted her to tell her that the capture mission had been a success.

"Zanzer… Of course he wouldn't tell me! Then again, I couldn't reach out to anyone when I was in a Whale King. Oh, brother..."

Then she took another look at her target who was preoccupied with shock to remember her. She saw this and decided that if there was an opportunity to strike it, it was now.

"Let's just make sure nothing can distract them in the meantime. My feathers are damaged, so I'm just gonna have to charge it head on. HAAAAAAHHH!"

And the Rainbow Jerk immediately dove for the oblivious zoid again, this time fast and quick enough so that even when it finally noticed her, it was too late to do anything about it. In a split-second, the flyer connected with the torso of the Fuhrer's body and was able to send it all the way towards the mountain ranges, leaving them in a damaged heap that they struggled to get up from.

"DAMN THAT BIRD," Ragnarok cursed, yelling in pain as he tried to see what was going on around him. His aggression levels had peaked, and he did whatever he could to force themselves back up as he watched the peafowl take back to the skies. One strong strike had essentially left him defeated, which he had found humiliating after his string of victories. "I swear that I will kill it!"

Berzerk Fuhrer was roaring furiously, equally as angry with its situation and angry that it didn't get the chance to kill Liger Zero immediately. It was too disoriented to get back up for a while, and was ready more than ever for more action. It didn't care about its damaged state.

"_I agree... They will die!"_

However, the two of them could only watch as the Whale Kings above them performed their work and the numbers in the sky dwindled. They were helpless, and it left them with a bitter taste stronger than they had ever felt before.

"I got him," squealed Rachel as she flew upwards and looked at the heap she had left. She then reached out to Thomas and repeated, "I GOT HIM!"

But no response came.

"Thomas?" She even tried connecting with the two brothers. "Ven? Aero? Anyone?"

And again, no one replied.

"Shit!" Her forehead began sweating as she came closer to the massive zoids. Her zoid slowed down, but her mind started racing. Three peoples' lives that had grown close to her were in danger, and her mind started racing about what it was going to do.

The Rainbow Jerk traveled through the open maw of one of the Whale Kings, the one which she knew to be her own. She rushed in and took to her own stall, and then she dashed back towards the Bridge, where everybody was surprised to see her again.

"You're back," several of them exclaimed. They were all excited, except for her. The lieutenant's hands were on her knees as she panted from having to run. Her condition surprised them all again once they all got a good look and they all started questioning her. "We told you it was dangerous out there!"

"I know," she hastily replied. "I knew that before I went out." Then she stood upright, still trying to gather her breath. "But I don't care. I know I'm supposed to stay in here, but someone had to go out there and take care of business."

"Take care of business? Has something else been accomplished besides the news about The Count?" Rachel nodded her head.

"The main zoid that was a threat down there has been dismantled, and because of that, it is safe for us to go down there and pick up any survivors."

This caused everyone to gasp.

"What?" the lieutenant continued. "Do we not care about our own people?"

"How do we know that it's even safe?"

"Just take a look for yourself! Everything down there is dwindling, and we're expected to be heading off soon, so let's get to it!"

The crew was still in disbelief and didn't say anything, spurring Rachel into further action.

"THAT'S AN ORDER," she yelled, delivering to everyone her sharpest look and scaring many of them into turning away and preparing the landing procedures. "In the meantime, I'll connect with Zanzer and let him know what we're doing before he treats me the way I sometimes treat him."

She walked towards the center of the room and took her seat in front of the monitor. Then, on just her screen, she brought up the transmission that allowed her to communicate with Zanzer's Whale King, and the security guard's face was quick to spring up.

"Hey there, Zanzer," the lieutenant greeted as casually as she could. The man's face remained stern.

"You're one of the craziest people I've met, but you're a talented enough pilot to make up for that."

"Oh, you know…might as well just call me 'crazy' from now on."

"Easy enough."

"I'm sure it is. And you might think I'm even crazier: we're landing this Whale King so that we may pick up any survivors since now that it is clear enough down there."

"Hmph, that's supposed to make me think you're even stranger?"

"Shoulda seen the faces of the people around here when I told them that."

"Haha. I guess they were something, weren't they?"

"Mhm."

"Mhm. Anyway, if we were able to capture The Count with such ease, that would mean that their numbers are low, so I was actually hoping you'd be starting this phase, or that someone would."

"At least you think I'm sane. Or at least, somewhat sane."

"I couldn't doubt you for a second." The last comment made Rachel pucker her lips and rear herself back with a doubtful expression.

"Right, Zanzy, right…"

"And try to make this fast. I think we'd all rather get out of here sooner rather than later. You might wanna tell one of the other Whale Kings to do the same. One of you will gather up our remaining soldiers, while the other will take the surviving Backdraft members as hostages."

"Uhuh. Will do," Rachel complied.

"Thanks. I'm sure I'll hear from you in a bit."

The guard's face disappeared, and the monitor returned to its display of charted numbers. Then she looked for another connection to relay the information from Zanzer and herself.

'_We better do this quick. Ven, Aero… I'm sorry, but you two mean too much to me. I know I'm not your guys' nanny anymore, but its because of that that I can't let you guys die. As for Thomas… A second chance? Oh Eve, what am I thinking…?_

* * *

Several Guysacks, Biozoids, Command Wolves, and Deathpions were still battling it out with each other, even as one of the massive Whale Kings above them began to come down. The Commission zoids recognized it and received messages from it that let them know it was coming, so they made way for it. On the other hand, many of the Backdraft zoids were still caught off-guard or couldn't move out of the way in time, and were squashed by its weight in the process. It was Rachel's Whale King, and the mouth opened up to reveal the several Gustavs, equipped with tractor equipment, that were ready to stroll out. Several BioRaptors jumped in the way to protect them, and many of the strollers were immediately making their ways towards Liger Zero, Midnight, and BEEK, all of which were deemed critical to save as they supplied the Commission with its strongest zoids.

Midnight and Liger Zero were found in a pile of rubble and unable to move. Of the two of them, only Midnight was still conscious, while their pilots were motionless with their eyes closed. She was more concerned about Aero than herself since he wouldn't responded to her and opened her hatch as a signal to the oncoming Gustavs.

_Take him out first_, she asked to the pilots of the Gustavs surrounding her and the feline. Some sound effects were still ringing around them, so hearing a voice only threw them off even more, causing them to stop what they were doing for a moment. _Don't worry, I'm the…Konig Wolf. I know that some of you have heard that I can…speak. I can answer questions about it later, but take out…take out my pilot first. I think he's in critical condition, and…I'll be fine in the meantime._

All of them were hesitant at first, but once they understood they weren't being threatened, and connected her hatch opening automatically with the voice they were hearing, one of the men got out of his Gustav and went to go pull out the unconscious kid.

"What about the other pilot?" the man asked as Aero's harness lifted and he picked him up.

_Neither he nor his zoid are…responding to me, so you'll just…have to get him out some other way…_

He looked at Liger Zero next to her and groaned at the sight of the torn up feline. It was hard for them to believe that the zoid they had always hyped up was defeated this time, even though they were sure they had won this mission. As a result, he backed away, not wanting to look at the depressing sight any longer and went back into his Gustav. The others then immediately continued their work and placed the two zoids on the platforms behind them.

As time passed, another Whale King landed and both Backdraft zoids and Commission zoids were being loaded up by the masses. They were successful in quickly cleaning up the area, although there was one zoid that most of them never saw, and Rachel had warned their time about approaching it. It was the Berzerk Fuhrer. The tyrannosaurus had finally managed to get back up on its feet, but it couldn't walk for long without falling back down. The zoid and its pilot were left in a position that had left both of them completely vulnerable.

"That's it, should I just give up?" grumbled the stressed commander as grumpily as he could.

"_Not…until Zeke is dead!"_

"Who the fuck is this 'Zeke' you keep on mentioning? Some name you came up with for the Liger Zero while you were holed up in that cavern for who knows how long?"

"_It's the name of the entity within the Liger Zero. Do not ask beyond that. It is none of your business."_

"None of my business, you say?" Ragnarok asked. Now he was insulted. "A zoid that thinks it's so clever that it can push me away with just a few words, even though I am how it will ever be able to successfully move throughout this world.

"_I will not say anything more."_

"So that's how we're gonna play it, you devious shit?! Okay then. I guess you, The Count, and that Konig Wolf can all fuckign be smart towards me. At least I practically killed one of you. Wait, speaking of The Count…"

Ragnarok tried again to get Berzerk Fuhrer to stand up, and this time they were able to stand straight. Half a mile away from him stood the Backdraft's headquarters, and while he wanted to look up and see if he could witness The Count being taken captive, what caught his attention even more so was a series of explosions that went off in the headquarters's lower floors.

"What the fuck?!" he cursed as he watched the flames spread. Then he watched as the glass started falling and flying towards the two of them as they remained stationary. "Am I seeing things?!"

Meanwhile, the sight also stood out to Rachel, Zanzer, and everyone else who was in the area. More explosions began to go off, and they were several times bigger than the first few. The only one who wasn't surprised by them was Ken and his unit as they were dragging along a duplicate of The Count. The spy watched the sight with glee on his face after he jumped out of his escort Redler, though he never voiced his emotions.

"And now the real fun begins," he whispered to himself before turning away from the destruction and walking further into the hangar, laughing quietly to himself.

The detonations continued to grow bigger and bigger in size, sending debris and ash all across the base and piercing through anyone who didn't take shelter. Fire was encapsulating the entirety of the building until massive chunks of it began showering the grounds, forcing many of the rescue procedures to either speed up or be cancelled as many pilots and citizens began to run for their lives.

"_What is going…on?"_ Midnight growled upon hearing even more chaos happening around her as she, BEEK, and Liger Zero were being pulled up a Whale King's maw. The sounds of gunfire and zoids tearing away at each other completely stopped, and that frightened her more than she was before. _"Did we really…issue for this much to…happen?"_

The confusion continued into the Bridges of all the Whale Kings. Everyone was demanding something from everyone until their leaders calmed them down and told them to let it be. However, they still remained angry, arguing the fact that even more people were going to die than necessary. They held someone among them responsible, so it was chaos both inside and outside the zoids.

Many of the mechs did whatever they could to cram into the Whale Kings, even though they had already begun to depart, leaving several Commission and Backdraft zoids stranded. They had deemed the area to be too unsafe for them to remain stationary there, even to save the lives of those who were still there. Others began to run for the mountains as the top half of the headquarters was sliding off and fell on the ground alongside it, effectively squashing everything that was under it, which caused everything that was lit up inside of it to go off and ignite everything within a wide perimeter. Pieces and debris were flying in every direction. The Whale Kings that had been taking in survivors had already lifted off the ground with their entrances sealed shut, protecting everything that was inside and making their escape

"I must be dreaming," said Ragnarok with a hint of regret in his voice. He continued, even as the fires began to spread towards him, "I knew that they would do whatever they could to our base and try to take The Count, but they actually sought to destroy our headquarters…our prize."

"_We need to leave. Now,"_ Berzerk Fuhrer reminded him with an equal amount of disappointment. _"We'll burn if we stay."_

"I know. Let's go out…somewhere in this world."

And so the Berzerk Fuhrer ran and stumbled towards a divide in the ranges as it continued to be pelted by one fragment of glass after another. Desperation filled the zoid as it and its pilot fled for their lives. It was the first rush it had felt in a long time that it considered meaningful, forcing its eyes too glow as the sensation took over.

'_Zeke,'_ it recited in its mind, _'if you die by something in me…then I won't know what to do. You're what's giving me reason…even after all this time…since I first met you…so stay alive in the meantime…until I can get you myself…'_

The fleeing zoid was soon gone, along with a few others that had managed to trail behind it. His pilot was still cursing and moaning, but he let it be. The headquarters was what every member of the Backdraft Group had come to take the most pride in, and he understood this. He had always held on to his own sense of pride, even though it had been hurt many times before, so he could relate to what Ragnarok was feeling as he looked back at the burning destruction behind him. The headquarters had been destroyed…

As well as the rest of the Backdraft Group's base.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Wow, it's been a while since I communicated with my fans through one of my chapters. Haha!

Anyway, as I'm sure you guys have gathered from the beginning of this chapter where it says "Arc Finale" after "The Backdraft Arc," this is the end of this chunk of this story that places so much emphasis on the Backdraft Group. From here on, a new arc is going to begin, and that is how I will be dividing this story up. It will be divided up into different arcs. No, you don't need to worry about me splitting this up into different stories! I will still be posting the rest of the additions in here, but I'm just letting you guys know this so that you all get a sense of what it is I am doing, what it is that I am hoping to accomplish. This story is only going to get much bigger, and I really do hope to hear more from you guys as to what you think about the direction I am taking this in! Stay tuned!


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